On the New Pornographers new album, “Whiteout Conditions,” some things stay the same. The melodic indie rock meets power pop vibe is strong. Vocals that jump back and forth between Carl Newman, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder still float above urgent keyboards, guitars and drums.
And in the songs there’s still a sense of defiance, Newman says, whether it’s applied to matters personal, as the New Pornographers have mostly aimed their songs at in the past, or political as Newman says he simply couldn’t avoid for an album written during the wildly contentious presidential campaign of 2016.
“I wasn’t trying to be political but it’s hard for politics to not seep in,” says Newman by phone from his home in Woodstock, N.