Live: The New Pornographers @ The Empire.

Canadian band The New Pornographers play live in London at The Empire, Shepherds Bush. (Rachel Lipsitz)

A lot of bands could take a cue from The New Pornographers regarding style over substance. At their recent show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, we see the Canadians showcase their talents with a minimum of fuss. Sprinkling old favourites The Laws Have Changed, Testament to Youth In Verse, Myriad Harbour amongst some of the new tracks off Brill Bruisers -– some of their best to date, New Pornographers are always capable crowd pleasers.

Canadian band The New Pornographers play live in London at The Empire, Shepherds Bush. (Rachel Lipsitz)

The jauntiness of these extremely dense tracks are always fun to hear live. Kathryn Calder‘s voice is strong enough in its own right, so much so it’s jarring to hear her parts sung by Neko Case on the album. Dan Bejar makes a rare live appearance with the band tonight (leaving the stage for every song he doesn’t sing or play on) and they make the most of it.

(Rachel Lipsitz)

Seeing New Pornographers live reminds us how much detail is in their unique brand of 60’s-esque pop and why they’re finally getting the audience they deserve at a larger venue like Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

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Live Review and Photos by Rachel Lipsitz. Rachel has her own website here:http://www.littletrousers.com/

Rachel has also taken some great band portraits that will appear in The New Pornographers interview that Craig Scott from Rockshot has just completed.