You had to send the wrecking crew after me

Borders only had one copy of Twin Cinema when I got there, so it was lucky I showed up when I did. Twin Cinema, for those not in the know, is the third and latest album by the New Pornographers, the Canadian indie rock supergroup led by clear musical genius Carl Newman (anyone largely responsible for Mass Romantic and Electric Version, not to mention his solo album The Slow Wonder, which may be the best of all of them, is obviously a genius).

I've given it one listen through so far. There are few if any albums I love on the first listen, so the fact that I'm a little iffy on it right now doesn't mean much. Even if I end up not liking it as much as the previous two, though, "Use It" (the third track) is totally awesome and was worth the fifteen bucks by itself. "Twin Cinema," the title track and opener (the NP convention), is pretty rocking as well.

I suppose what I'm not liking as much so far is that the album isn't quite as hard-driving awesome as the previous two seemed more to be. It certainly has songs like that - the two I mentioned in particular - but there are also slower songs, some that don't really kick out where they should (in particular, the Dan Bejar-penned "Streets of Fire" has an obvious moment where it should start to rock out and it doesn't take it, instead sliding into an extended fadeout). I suppose it's nice that they want to play with convention a bit, and there's plenty of rock to like here regardless, but on a first listen there's an unsatisfying quality about some of it. I think that will change with repeated listens, but it's a less immediately enjoyable album than either Mass Romantic or Electric Version. Still, it's got some great sounds that, assuming they come together for me, will make the whole affair just as good as its predecessors in the end.