Consumer Guide Album

The New Pornographers: In the Morse Code of Brake Lights [Concord, 2019]
Although Carl Newman's ability to roll out the memorable pop-rock songs few bands bother to fail at anymore is something like genius, his reluctance to make them signify is something like neurosis. The fond Brill Bruisers and the outrageous Whiteout Conditions stand tall in his band's catalogue because they address this shortfall. But the main mood to be parsed from this marginally less catchy collection is a sociopolitical dread less acute in Canada because democracy is still less embattled there: "the culture of fear," "the crime in the family," "the surprise knock," "the language of quick goodbyes." The anthemic "Colossus of Rhodes" inspired me to ascertain that said wonder was the tallest structure in the ancient world until an earthquake brought it down just 54 years after it was completed. Which I'll take to mean us Yanks should be grateful our constitution lasted 231. B+