Whiteout Conditions

While The New Pornographers’ appealing quirks abound, their melodic gifts rightfully steal the show.

Here, the music feels more organic and in line with the songcraft that has formed the band’s backbone to date.

The New Pornographers’’ songs have always been swift, busy little things for the most part, that’s a large part of their joy, and even if some of the more overt ebullience has been toned down here, the richly arpeggioed repetitions and steady melodic sense on display here means that, “bubblegum Krautrock” or no, this is still heady, catchy stuff.

Whiteout Conditions is a consistently engaging and occasionally irresistible collection of pop songs, carried off with the unmistakable assurance of old hands.

Songs about depression, society and the environment sound euphoric, with elements of 80s synth pop and 90s fuzz and the racing tempos only slowing slightly for evocative closer Avalanche Alley.

Whiteout Conditions shows they're already brighter and more satisfying than just about any of their peers.

Unless you’re only listening for Bejar, Whiteout Conditions should not only satisfy but also open your mind to just how versatile the New Pornographers can be.

They're firing on all cylinders on Whiteout Conditions, working as one to deliver their most cohesive--and one of their best--albums to date.

There’s a drive and urgency about Whiteout Conditions that whisks one along regardless, their usual indie-pop mode here strengthened by layers of fast, bubbly synths and pulsing Eurocentric beats.

Animating even the slowest songs on the album is a sense of play and possibility, the realisation that these musicians can shake off the dust and still surprise us. [May 2017, p.36]

When the songs are this well-crafted, we'll be back again. [May 2017, p.88]

Dive in wholeheartedly; you’ll be happy to float in the outrageously catchy Whiteout Conditions for a long time to come.

The New Pornographers may be sounding more and more like robots these days, but they remain uncommonly attuned to the preferences of the human ear.

Whiteout Conditions packs the most blanket pep of the power-pop group’s seven albums, dense with that particular new wave brand of electronic two-for-one.

At this point, they have their formula down.

Newman, Case, and Calder are wonderful as always and with Newman providing the melodic earworms, Whiteout Conditions is another strong addition to the band’s already excellent discography.

The band seem to be pushing their hi-spec power-indie as far as it can go. [Jun 2017, p.110]

They have that whole male/female duality down to a tee as well. It’s just that a few more sonic peaks and troughs wouldn’t go amiss.

In the immediate, Whiteout Conditions might leave you a little cold.