By Eliot Wilder / Although alt-chanteuse Neko Case supplies the marquee value, she's not the star of the New Pornographers' latest, "Electric Version." That would be former Zumpano Carl Newman, who on a whim in 1997 sowed the seeds for what has blossomed into this Vancouver indie-rock supergroup. Along the way, he recruited Destroyer's Dan Bejar, Thee Evaporators' John Collins, cartoonist (and keyboardist) Blaine Thurier and Limblifter's Kurt Dahle. And what was once a lark is now a flesh-and-blood band - one that takes into account the diverse dispositions and styles of each member and sprinkles on top the high-powered pop of groups like the Cars, Cheap Trick and Pixies. With its left-field hooks and its new wave wallop, 2000's "Mass Romantic" promised greatness - and "Electric Version" delivers. This is a more confident and lush sounding recording, OD-ing with songs guaranteed to kick your lazy ass off the couch. From the get-go, Dahle's limb-lifting drumming hits a raucous and unrelenting groove while tambourines jangle, guitars growl and stacked vocals up the quixotic quotient (try to resist the chorus of "The End of Medicine"). Like your favorite breakfast cereal, "From Blown Speakers" is both sweet and crunchy, "The Laws Have Changed" features breath-stealing harmonies and "Ballad of a Comeback Kid" should have you digging your Ziggy garb out of mothballs. Hey, "Electric Version" doesn't mess around - witty lyrics, economy and concision, and it all rocks badder than a motherfucker.

Carl Newman chats with Eliot Wilder

Amplifier: How does this album differ from "Mass Romantic"?

Carl Newman: I think it's got a few more peaks and valleys in it. When it's quiet, it's a little more quiet and when it's loud, it's a little louder. When we finished "Mass Romantic" nobody said anything about it being 40 minutes of full-blast music. I figured that was its obvious weakness. I figured, OK, people didn't mind that, but for the second record I want to pull back occasionally.

Your sound seems influenced by '70s bands like the Cars and Cheap Trick ...

Those are definitely cursory influences. I guess people hear those bands in us because we play pop songs that are loud and rocking with plenty of drums. One thing we do is steal drumbeats. I think that's acceptable; I don't think it's cool to steal melodies and chord structures and arrangements from people, but you got to tip your hat to the classic drumbeats of rock history. The beat on the song "Mass Romantic" is what Kurt called the Kansas City Shuffle because it's in the song "Kansas City." He said that that's a total Bun E. Carlos beat because Bun always uses that. Bun E. Carlos is one of the great drummers. He has fantastic feel. Hey, we should put this article in Modern Drummer!

Anything else besides drums push your buttons?

I like to find new ways of using stupid old rock tricks. I took the phrasing from the 10cc song "Dreadlock Holiday." I love the way they sang "I don't like cricket-TAH!" I use that all through our new record. On one song, Dan even sings "fucked-TAH!" I also find myself throwing in the word "yeah" all the time. I'll be writing lyrics that are totally serious and at the end of the sentence I'll put "yeah" and I don't know why. Like someone putting "you know what I'm saying?" in the middle of a sentence. When I put these sorts of things on records I get accused of being ironic, but it doesn't feel ironic. It just feels natural. Maybe we're draining things of all their soul, but it doesn't seem that way to me.

Lyrically, was there something you were after when you wrote this album?

I think there's always something sad running through our songs. A lot of our songs are about searching for some kind of answers or happiness in the face of adversity, even if you are the one causing the adversity.

When you finished the first album did you think you'd ever do another?

I don't think we seriously thought about making another record until about three or four months after "Mass Romantic" came out, because we were so shocked by the response. We assumed that it would sell maybe 1,000 or 2,000 copies. We thought, 'Hey, Neko's had some popularity recently - maybe that'll be enough to get a few people to buy our record.' We thought that maybe we'd get reviewed in some Canadian magazine and that would be the end of it. But that wasn't what happened. It took off in ways that we never really anticipated.

So do you see the New Pornographers as a full-time, continuing gig?

We want to do more New Pornographers stuff but it's hard to balance that with what everyone in the group is doing on their own. We're fighting to be a real band.

From Amplifier magazine