The New Pornographers, “Testament to Youth in Verse”
(The Electric Version, 2003)
Drink Up Buttercup, “Gods and Gentlemen”
(Mr. Pie Eyes, 2008)
The New Pornographers pulled out a lot of tricks on their sophomore album The Electric Version, the most striking of which came courtesy of reedy-voiced secret member Daniel Bejar, who proved he could stun listeners with more than just his infamously cryptic lyrics. Two minutes into “Testament to Youth in Verse,” Bejar abandons the existing song structure and proceeds to lead the band in an a capella carol of the bells; tolling away in rhythm like a human carillon, they repeat the word no until it no longer sounds like a word: “The bells ring no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.” What they’re negating is unclear, but it becomes more and more ironic as the music starts to swell again, and downright absurd when the drums kick back in.
Philadelphia’s Drink Up Buttercup play trash-can pop that owes a debt to the Pornographers’ saturated sound, but adds a touch of anarchic glee. Their anthemic “Gods and Gentlemen” follows a tack similar to “Testament,” and though the word they are riffing on is actually know, it morphs into no in the listener’s mind through the sheer force of repetition.
