AC Newman - Get Guilty

"Get Guilty" is the second solo album from Vancouver’s (now exiled in Brooklyn) A.C Newman (Carl to his friends), the main songwriter and group leader of the widely acclaimed and hugely popular The New Pornographers
(Matador Records).
*  Pitchfork called his 2004 solo debut The Slow Wonder "soulful sing-alongs with grit, pop nuggets that hold up to hours of repeat play, and ultimately, the sound of a great songwriter hitting his stride." Get Guilty both expands on and
synthesizes his talents, with the introspection and nuance of The New Pornographers’ last album Challengers, but with more immediacy and the excitability of his most- loved songs.
*  Get Guilty showcases beautifully Newman’s fascinating blend of catchiness and impenetrability - witness "The
Palace At 4 A.M.", a Top 40 singalong that namechecks a Donald Barthelme short story and talks of Polynesian dives, bingo, and bombs. "Thunderbolts" is from the point of view of a gang of young troublemaking gods, and "Like A
Hitman, Like A Dancer" distills the 1967 film "Le Samourai" into a simple tale of indecision.
*  Still, those simple thrilling hair-on-back-of-neck moments so familiar to Newman fans are plentiful here: The explosive "change your mind" in "Changeling (Get Guilty)"; the unexpected heart-tugging harmonies of "Like A Hitman"; the
crescendo coda of "The Heartbreak Rides". "Spot The Influence" is a perennial sport to play with Newman’s songs, and he himself confoundingly explains his formula as a cross between Keith’s "98.6" and 10cc’s "Dreadlock Holiday." That said, he cops to "Elemental"’s guitar solo being a tribute to Felt, and "The Collected Works" an effort to meld George Benson’s "On Broadway" with Queen’s "Fat Bottomed Girls". Which could all be a ploy to deflect the Jimmy Webb comparisons, but we’ve seen his record collection and the guy goes deep.
*  Players on Get Guilty include drummers Jon Wurster (Superchunk, Mountain Goats) and Charles Burst, an array of strings, horns, and woodwinds, and vocalists (major label rising star) Nicole Atkins and Mates Of State. It sounds
familiarly lush but not overworked, and even intimate. Dramatic themes recur - change, water, self-doubt, gods and prophets - yet an optimistic beauty prevails. The stately opening track gives way to the orchestral, romantic road trip of "The Heartbreak Rides," and the album closes with one of his most direct songs ever, "All of My Days and All Of
My Days Off," a love letter to his wife about their wedding day.

Tracklist:
1. There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve 2. The Heartbreak Rides 3. Like A Hitman, Like A Dancer 4. Prophets 5. Submarines Of Stockholm 6. Thunderbolts 7. Palace At 4 A.M., The 8. Changeling, The (Get Guilty) 9. Elemental 10. Young Atlantis 11. The Collected Works 12. All Of My Days And All Of My Days Off

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