Search - A.C. Newman :: Get Guilty

Change Your Mind! (It's a Grower.)

Gregory W. Locke | Seattle, WA | 03/10/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the coming months critics will begin issuing out "best of" lists for the whole of this strange, transformative decade. Best novel. Best film. Best actor. Best albums. Best songwriter. Vancouver singer/songwriter A.C. Newman, best known for his lisp-y frontman work as a leader of The New Pornographers, will see his name written down. Get Guilty, his sixth and final proper album of this decade (four as a Porno, and now two as an A.C.), likely wont find its way onto these lists. It should, however, make some year-end lists while furthering Newman's campaign to go down as the decade's top songwriter.



Opening with the celebratory (if slightly sedated) power-pop blast of "There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve," Get Guilty immediately distinguishes itself from Newman's other solo album, 2004's The Slow Wonder, coming off more like a Pornos tune. But don't get too excited, many of the major hallmarks - the Neko Vocals, two or three obligatory Dan Bejar songs and a few over-the-top/punch-in-the-face power-pop tunes - of Newman's band's sound are completely absent. The arrangements are full (like a Pornos' album) but the writing is slightly more personal. There are no otherworldly female vocalists to compete with and, likewise, there are no otherworldly female vocalists yelping along with Newman. It's an indie rock give-and-take that, truthfully, just sorta sounds like another A.C. Newman-penned record. Nothing wrong with that.



The standout tracks - most notably "The Changeling (Get Guilty)," "The Palace at 4 a.m." and "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer" - are all just as good as the best Porno tunes. Some chug along in a chamber pop sort of way; some offer up-and-down power-pop rides; and some kick down the door. Like the most recent Pornos' album, 2007's Challengers, Get Guilty offers a solid helping of variety.



As good as albums like Mass Romantic and Electric Version are, they lacked the variety of the work we've seen Newman offer since, peaking with the one-two punch of Challengers and 2005's critical darling, Twin Cinema. Get Guilty often sounds more like a sequel to those records (especially the first few tracks on Challengers) than The Slow Wonder, working well as an example of the artist's progression from the caffeinated rocker we know from Zumpano to a more diverse songwriter with a heavier-than-ever tool box full of poppy songwriter turns.



Neither a new classic or a disappointment, Get Guilty is the first must-own, must-turn-up, must-repeat record of 2009. Learn `em, love `em and look forward to another decade of Newman classics. (Greg Locke)"