Together

The title of the New Pornographers' fifth album has an ironic tinge, given the ever-increasing geographic spread of the indie-rock supergroup's members, but at the same time, it's also entirely appropriate. In the beginning, the NPs were decidedly Carl Newman's band, albeit one in which he occasionally ceded vocal duties to Neko Case or Kathryn Calder and allowed Dan Bejar to write and sing a few songs per album. But on Together, the New Pornographers sound like a cohesive, democratic band whose distinct voices complement each other perfectly. Literally, as a matter of fact: the band's four primary singers harmonize more effectively here than they have on any previous album, most appealingly on Bejar's "If You Can't See My Mirrors" and the Case/Calder showcase "My Shepherd." More energetic and immediately engaging than 2007's downcast Challengers, these 12 sonically varied songs mesh perfectly, moving easily from the tongue-in-cheek riff-rock of Newman's "Your Hands (Together)" into the sweeping pop melodrama of Bejar's "Silver Jenny Dollar." Much like Case's breakthrough 2009 solo album Middle Cyclone, the differences between Together and the New Pornographers' earlier albums are subtle but crucial, and their cumulative effect makes this the band's finest album so far.