Testament to Youth in Verse
When I first met Carl Newman, the leader of The New Pornographers, I asked him about the band‘s name. He told me that they look to make beautiful works that would delight and startle their audience; better than pornography ever could. He made it clear that he had no taste for pornography, and that it was all low and foul. I laughed, and suggested that perhaps he wasn’t exposed to high-quality material. He was taken aback by my response.
I met the band through Neko Case, the powerhouse singer who regularly appeared with the group. They were promoting their first album in 2001 and invited me to travel along to shoot pictures over a few dates. They played Brownies in New York’s East Village, and then I joined them in Boston for a show, traveling on the tour bus with them.
We shot some pictures at the motel where we stayed, as well as at a rest stop one evening. The band used a couple in the packaging of their next record, the excellent Electric Version, but none of the pictures met with my satisfaction. When I published my 2017 portrait monograph, Uneasy, I did not include a picture of the group. I’ve been torn on this ever since, but have still not found a singular proper portrait that I’m happy with.
Nevertheless, there are a few pictures that I do find charming, especially now that they’re over 25 years old. The roadside Polaroid in particular is appealing. In fact, it is on display in my office, and I see it every day.
About a dozen years later, the band reached out to hire me to do the PR photos for the Brill Bruisers album. I leapt at the opportunity as a chance to reconnect with one of my favorite bands and redeem myself by making a picture that the group deserved.
We shot near Neko‘s home in St. Johnsbury, VT, and did a bunch of scenarios throughout the day. The band was super cooperative and open to the many concepts. I think that my favorite execution is the black-and-white homage to Richard Avedon’s Beatles panoramic composite. But yeah, it still doesn’t quite hit the mark for me.
One of the unique things about them is that they function as a kind of flexible supergroup. The nucleus of the band is Carl Newman and the musicians surrounding him, but bringing in top-notch vocalists like Neko Case and songwriters like Daniel Bejar of Destroyer adds power and novelty.
Some of my favorite songs are written and sung by Daniel, yet I’ve never seen him play live with them in the half dozen times I’ve seen them, and he hasn’t been present for the photo sessions either. Am I unsatisfied with my portraits of the group because of this? One does wonder if that’s a missing ingredient.
My Top 10 New Pornographers songs:
Myriad Harbour/ Challengers
The Slow Descent into Alcoholism/ Mass Romantic
Silver Jenny Dollar/ Together
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras/ Twin Cinema
Crash Years/ Together
Moves/ Together
Testament to Youth in Verse/ Electric Version
Twin Cinema/ Twin Cinema
Sing Me Spanish Techno/ Twin Cinema
Falling Down the Stairs of your Smile/ In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
Top Image: A roadside Polaroid, November 2001.
Second Image: An outtake from the April 2014 Vermont PR session.
Third Image: An homage to Richard Avedon’s Beatles 1967 collage portrait. Vermont, April 2014.
Fourth Image: At the Howard Johnson’s in Connecticut. November 2001.
Fifth Image: The band crouching in front of a garage door, lit by vehicle headlights. “It looks so dynamic and powerful in real life, but does not render well in the photographs. I’ve tried this headlight lighting approach a few times, and never quite works.” November 2001.
Bottom Image: Behind the scenes in Vermont, April 2014. Photo by Kurt Dahle.