Band of Easy Virtue

Meet the New Pornographers, who change genres as often as porn stars change partners

Comments (0) By Michael Berick Thursday, Aug 28 2003

Their success also altered their perspective during the recording of Electric Version. "The notion of making an album for a relatively large audience was brand-new to us." He adds with a laugh, "People might be actually hearing this. You're not twiddling around in a vacuum. It's sort of a strange thing, especially after doing this for all these years."

What fans and critics have picked up on is the joy with which the New Pornographers make their music. While it might be densely layered, somewhat contorted pop, there's an invigorating buoyancy to the music that the listener can't ignore. Collins also believes that people recognize that they're "having a lot of fun putting the songs together and playing them." Plus, he says, "We're not people who take themselves too seriously. I think that's something that we learned because we're all kinda old. This is all as good as it gets. There's no pretense. We're doing something that's not stupid and it still doesn't have to be self-important. It just can be what it is."

No, the sexiest woman in indie rock is not giving you the finger. But the sock monkey is.

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So when you see a marquee reading "the New Pornographers," don't expect to see a kinky sex show. Just go in and enjoy some delightfully inventive music played by folks out to have some fun. And please, leave your latex bodysuit at home.