While his creative output hints at it, many don’t realize that A.C. Newman has one of the most active senses of humour in pop music.
Three years ago, touring with Belle and Sebastian, Newman drew big laughs (and later, a little ire from a local morning shock jock) when he commented that playing for Edge 102 fans at a promotional gig earlier that day was like playing “to the most energetic group of people that hate music imaginable.”
On a recent compilation for Starbucks, Newman recorded a plaintiff rendition of the A-Ha classic “Take On Me,” telling organizers it was the only love song he had any interest in covering.
And while there’s something funny about the nonsense lyrics Newman has penned to approach topics like loneliness and romance on the last four New Pornographers records, nothing has prepared listeners for what’s coming next.
“I’m thinking about the voice of the next New Pornos record, and I was thinking about making him kind of an obnoxious name-dropping grad student,” Newman says over the phone from his Brooklyn apartment. The Vancouver-born rocker is apparently frustrated with what people perceive as his overly literate tone. “I don’t know how it will fly with people. Actually, I think it will fly completely over their heads.”
Though Newman isn’t planning to read Proust as research for the outing, he’s bought the Sparknotes version, and is preparing an ironic, referential collage for the upcoming record. Whether or not he’s serious remains to be seen, though he believes the idea of mocking smart people would be a lot of fun. “I like to include references but, while there are books I really like, they haven’t changed my life.”
While A.C. Newman may not take the perception of his literacy seriously, his fans certainly have. His brainy, if skewed, songwriting has made consistent college radio hits of his four records with super group The New Pornographers, and one solo record, 2004’s The Slow Wonder.
Returning to a solo venture after five years wasn’t hard for Newman, since, in his mind, there isn’t much of a difference.
“It’s always a cliché to put out a solo album that’s a quiet album with strings, like [Sting] or whatever. I can see why people do that to reinvent themselves, but that’s not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to put out something that was more rocking than the last New Pornographer record.”
His latest solo outing, Get Guilty, continues in his distinct, often contradictory songwriting voice: the lyrics are steeped in mournful alienation, but still surrounded by rye humour, power-pop riffs, and bright production. The lead single, “There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve,” opens the record with an upbeat graduation march tinged with lyrical regret, as Newman mourns, “There are maybe ten or twelve/Things that I can teach you/After that, well I think you’re on your own.” Newman uses crunchy guitar and gang harmony throughout the album, all the while evoking feelings of being drowned, being dumped, and falling behind. It’s confusing stuff for those unfamiliar with his work.
As with Newman’s first solo record, there’s richness in the details—his songs make fleeting reference to J.P. Melville’s Le Samourai, and Donald Barthelme’s short fiction, among dozens of others.
Newman admits, “I just write things down, and hear it later, and by then it’s completely void of context. Then I use it. I’m actually not all that complicated in how I approach these things. [References] just make me seem more sophisticated, I guess.”
By his own admission, much of the content of his lyrics is accidental. On “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer,” Newman actually combined the plots of two movies, something he admits he did unintentionally.
“I was watching Le Samourai (a French reworking of old Japanese films) and at the same time watching Tokyo Drifter (a bloody, cartoonish gangster picture). [Tokyo Drifter] ends with a big shootout in a club that’s very clearly a movie set, and it’s all very choreographed in a West Side Story kind of way, and just clearly not real. It’s like a dance piece. I just put the movies together in that line. I just thought it was so funny.”
While he’s enjoying his time on the road alone, Newman remains dedicated to The New Pornographers. In fact, he’s consistently working on demos for their next full-length.
“I could have made this one into an NP record, but it was just too soon to put out another one.”
Also, the logistical nightmares that accompany the project continue to pile up. While five years ago it was conceivable to get all of the group’s members in one place, the rising prominence of his bandmates Neko Case, Dan Bejar (Destroyer), and Kathryn Calder (Immaculate Machine) have put bigger plans for the group on hold. At the time of our interview, Newman was trying to find a mere ten days in Case’s schedule this fall so they could finish recording.
“We were all busy at the beginning, too. It’s almost easier for me in a way now since everybody’s on board. It’s kind of a career now, as crazy as that sounds.”
Crazy, no. But maybe a little funny.
A.C. Newman plays Lee’s Palace March 11th.
