Most of the time when I get a new album it takes me a few listens to settle into it, get a feel for the sound, and hear all the songs enough to feel fully acquainted with it enough to decide how much I like it. This is true even of bands I know well and love – it’s a process with each new album. With Together, the first playthrough felt like I coming home to something familiar and wonderful, in a good way. There was no getting acquainted time, it was just immediate love.
I got into The New Pornographers with their previous album Challengers, most of which I love, but there are some songs I don’t care for that much, which makes the album as a whole kind of a mixed experience. This time, everything is really well-balanced, and so far, there isn’t a song I don’t like. It feels more cohesive as an album; even though there are a similar assortment of Neko Case songs, Dan Bejar songs, and A.C. Newman songs as usual, somehow they don’t seem as disconnected as in Challengers – they all sound like New Pornographers songs, and that cohesion steps the album up a notch.