THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS

John Collins, bassist/producer for The New Pornographers, is having a bit of a hard time sussing out who’s the bigger pop music obsessive–the mercurial Carl "A.C." Newman of his current group, or the manic, spastic Nardwuar of his previous outfit, The Evaporators. Both men, as different as they are outwardly, are fairly well-known for their exhaustive knowledge of the most minuscule of pop music microgenres.

"Hmmmm. That’s a tough one," Collins says. "They do have a lot of similarities between them–they both really like ’60s garage rock..." Finally he gives Nardwuar the edge when it comes to obscure "full-on nonsense" but Newman edges him out on overall scope of interest.

Maybe.

But at least Collins knows where he stands.

"[Carl] has got me beat in terms of the one-hit-wonder type of bands; he can go on and on about bands that had top 40 hits or one great indie rock record. I listen to the same Stranglers records over and over again instead of branching out."

That laidback attitude–one could characterize Collins’ conversational style as amiable but sleepy–has no doubt served him well, being in a group with so many potential chefs and all. (That said, despite the presence of three compositions by Destroyer’s Dan Bejar and two Neko Case tracks, the band’s new record Challengers is a Carl Newman-led excursion through and through–The New Pornographers are effectively Newman’s band.) And, if Collins has any qualms about the decision to record Challengers largely in Brooklyn with producer Phil Palazzalo rather than at his JC/DC studio in Vancouver (where all previous Pornographers output has been sired), then he’s hiding it well.

"I kind of just did what I normally do, except that I wasn’t really manning the controls very much. I was just kind of sitting at the back of the room with my feet up with a sandwich and acting like I needed to be there," he deadpans.

"I don’t really mind it. Like, when we were doing the last record [Twin Cinema], my partner Dave [Carswell] was around a lot, and he was quite happy to switch off on the actual recording. It’s kind of fun to be busy with your hands, but it’s also fun to be plucking away on a guitar, going, ‘Hey, I want to try something.’ You can’t really do that when you’re looking at a screen the whole time."

"Plucking" seems to be the operative word here; Challengers continues Twin Cinema’s evolution toward a sparser, more melancholic sound, more reliant on organic instrumentation and a few steps further removed from the over-the-top pop overload which marked The Pornographers’ earlier efforts.

"I think the most immediate thing about this record that’s different is that it is slower at times. It doesn’t get quite as frantic as we normally do. Some of the songs seemed to have a theme behind them and the instrumentation is just another way of... well, just keeping it sonically interesting."

Hence a string quartet, a flautist (Collins’ upstairs neighbour Leslie Kubicka–he heard him playing and ask him to join in), a healthy helping of violinists (well, two, plus a viola) and the usual Pornos myriad of multi-instrumental playfulness: Wurlitzer, mandolin, glockenspiel, and so on.

Collins admits that the trademark "raging rockers" are largely absent this time around, but he notes that as moody as the disc sounds at times, and regardless of what Newman may have gone through prior to recording, Challengers is nonetheless undercut with a sense of hopefulness. (The story regarding Newman goes that he disappeared from the band’s home base in Vancouver last year without saying a word to anyone; he re-emerged in Brooklyn, where he remains a resident.)

Given the greater sum of its parts that is The New Pornographers, it’s no surprise that the group can’t help but coat a little sugar on their increasingly adult-themed fare. After all, this is a band inextricably tied to the aptly-named Mint Records, a label that reached its zenith in the ’90s with a cuddly roster that included Collins’ Evaporators, Newman’s Zumpano, Neko Case’s Maow, and, of course, all the Pornos albums released before Challengers. Heck, even new gal Kathryn Calder–who makes a standout lead vocal debut on "Failsafe"–splits her time with new generation Mint popsters Immaculate Machine.

Though the band may have split from their super-sweet past, Challengers isn’t so much a departure as a logical evolution, with Newman steering this still merry, mellower vessel into the kinds of hallowed ports of call established by the likes of Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach. For their part, Collins and crew seem more than happy to go along for the ride.

"It’s kind of a weird job, you know? Getting in a submarine and cruising from city to city, but I don’t really have any other options. I do like it, and I think we’re all in kind of the same boat. Why would you stop unless you were cracking up?"