Mass Romantic

Mass Romantic was recorded over the course of almost three years. The group's producer and bassist John Collins decided to refer to themselves as a super group. The band consisted of Zumpano's Carl Newman, John Collins of The Evaporators, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, Limblifter's Kurt Dahle, filmmaker Blaine Thurier, and alternative country singer Neko Case. Production on the album was difficult. A.C. Newman stated, "I remember 'Letter From an Occupant' was a pretty belabored song. It ended up being almost minimal, but I remember there's so much shit we put on it. There's a psychedelic 12-string guitar solo, a backwards guitar, there's a kind of really cool synth that's in there but buried. At some point, you have to choose. That was the hardest part about mixing the thing: just making that judgment call. I only feel at peace with the record now because people seem to like it." The songs on the album were written by A.C. Newman and Destroyer frontman Dan Bejar. Newman recalled that he thought "'How could we lose?' You could just take some interesting elements and put them together. Even taking myself out of the picture, when I looked at the band I just thought, 'This band's got to be great.' I thought, 'Okay, everyone can hate my songs, they can dismiss them.' But I have the most confidence in Dan's songs because I'm totally outside of him, looking in. I'm just a fan of him." The song "Breakin' the Law" was taken from Destroyer's first album ''We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge''. The group vocals at the end of "Breakin' the Law" are credited to the Camp Northstar Kids' Chorus, a reference to the Canadian comedy film Meatballs. The chorus is actually every member of the band singing. Newman stated, "I like the fact that people think that it's a kids' group ... We made ourselves sound like a giant group, but we ended up sounding like little kids. I love the fact that in the Rolling Stone review they mention the chorus of kids. I just think it's great that people actually believe that, because it's such a fucking ridiculous thing for a band to do." == Style ==

Tim DiGravina of AllMusic called Mass Romantic an album that "displays a decidedly power pop form of indie rock." Rolling Stone also made comparisons to Big Star and Cheap Trick. The album's lyrics have been described as "ridiculous and melodramatic as they are witty". == Release ==

Mass Romantic was released on November 21, 2000, by Mint Records on vinyl and compact disc in Canada. "Letter from an Occupant", released on April 15, 2002, was the only single. The New Pornographers went on their first tour to promote the album. The tour presented problems, including throat damage, broken-down buses, and having to take expensive cab rides. A.C. Newman spoke positively about the tour, stating, "There's been fairly good crowds, but the shows haven't been that crazy. They've been getting better ... We're not really a party band. I hope people can party. We give them the music! Isn't that enough?" The tour sold out. == Reception ==

Mass Romantic was well received in the band's native Canada, where it won a Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 87, indicating "universal acclaim". Douglas Wolk of Rolling Stone described Mass Romantic as "a striking power-pop album, forty staggeringly catchy minutes of four-part harmonies and Wall of Sound production, exploding with energy and joy", Tyler Martin of Stylus Magazine felt that "too many misdirected ideas weigh this album down". The album charted in several best of the year lists from various critics. Pitchfork rated it the ninth best album of 2001, stating, "Energetic, smooth, and masterfully executed, Mass Romantic is the catchiest thing to come out in ages." The site later placed Mass Romantic at number 91 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s. Magnet magazine included the album in its "20 Best Albums of 2001" list. In The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 2001, the album placed at number seventeen. In December 2007, Blender listed Mass Romantic as the 24th best indie rock album of all time. It is the second-highest Canadian album on the list behind Arcade Fire's Funeral, which was selected as the 6th best. == Track listing ==

All songs written and sung by Carl Newman, except where noted. == Personnel ==

• Bill Anderson – photography • Dan Bejar – vocals, multi-instruments, korg synthesizer, pipe organ, wurlitzer • David Carswell – producer • Neko Case – vocals • Davidian Chorley – saxophone (tracks 8, 11) • John Collins – bass, producer, engineer • Kurt Dahle – drums, vocals • Carl Newman – vocals, korg synthesizer, pipe organ, wurlitzer • Shannon Oksanen – photography • Fisher Rose – drums (tracks 4, 6, 9, 12) • Blaine Thurier – keyboards == References ==