The Porns: back and better than ever

These days, Canada's homegrown indie rock seems to be the country's big export to the states, especially in the form of indie big bands the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and, last but not least, the New Pornographers.\nComprised of an assortment of Vancouver artists taken from Zumpano, Destroyer, Limblifter and the Evaporators, the New Pornos aren't exactly the super-troupe that countrymen Broken Social Scene are. Neither are they the Arcade Fire -- no one's the Arcade Fire, who are the next best thing to sliced bread. But they are, however, unbeatable in the world of hi-fi power-pop balladry.\nTwin Cinema, the group's third album in five years, may well be that breakout album à la Modest Mouse's Good News for People who Love Bad News and Death Cab's Transatlanticism. This may thrust these Vancouver been-arounds into the spotlight, demonstrating just how far a band can come in its lifespan -- however, judging from the New Pornos' first two albums, 2000's Mass Romantic and 2003's Electric Version, these guys were pretty far out to begin with.\nA little necessary back history: televangelist Jimmy Swaggart was the first person to coin the phrase "new pornography" in reference to the new rock music of the 1980s. Now, almost twenty years later, a man who goes by the name A.C. Newman is using the term to promote his vision of what he thinks this new sound is alongside the Pornos' nine sometimes-members, including alt-country up-and-comer Neko Case and her spellbinding voice (not to mention her unbelievable looks).\nThe underrated songwriter succeeds with Twin Cinema, the unofficial follow-up to his solo debut, 2004's The Slow Wonder, which came across not so much as a new avenue for Newman -- someone whom if you passed on the sidewalk you wouldn't know (you may not recognize Case either, but named by Playboy as the "sexiest babe in indie-rock" she would at least stand out) -- but rather a stripped-down version of his Pornographers' material. The one-two punch of Newman's songwriting and Case's voice -- oh that voice! -- is what spurned much of the attention given the group's first two releases.\nThe band apparently had an unsure future last year as five Pornographers released albums outside the group, possibly regarding their work as Newman's puppets as a side project. But that theory was exactly backwards. Twin Cinema succeeds because of Pornos' staples -- four-part harmonies, impeccable Elvis Costello-esque delivery and Kurt Dahle's drumming at the forefront of each lyrically arcane three-minute jamboree; but most importantly because of everybody taking a more active interest in the band.