The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

Twin Cinema is The New Pornographers at their most ambitious, a 2005 power-pop record so packed with hooks it barely stops for air.

The Vancouver collective had already won hearts with Mass Romantic and Electric Version, but their third album widened the frame. Carl Newman's songs grew stranger and more intricate, Neko Case brought that unmistakable voice to the front, and Dan Bejar of Destroyer chipped in his own off-kilter contributions, giving the record several distinct personalities that somehow lock together into one gloriously crowded whole.

The title track charges in on crunching guitars and stacked harmonies, and "Use It" is a pure sugar rush of melody. "The Bleeding Heart Show" builds slowly from a hushed opening into a huge, chanted finale that has become a fan favourite, while "Sing Me Spanish Techno" proves that even their wordplay comes with a backbeat.

Nothing here sits still for long. Songs swerve through tempo changes, piano and guitar trade places, and voices pile up in odd, delightful combinations, yet every track still lands somewhere you can hum on the walk home.

For fans of brainy, big-hearted indie pop, this is the band's high-water mark, and on vinyl it plays like one generous rush of melody from first needle drop to last.