POPSCREEN: The New Pornographers

Music videos from everyone’s favorite Canadian indie supergroup used to involve drag queens, bulldozers, jerky dance moves, or David Cross cameos. Nothing so exciting drops by in this clip: Two kids (real-life couple Sam and Andrea from Brooklyn art punk band Courtier) sit on a dilapidated loveseat and gaze into each other’s eyes for a bit. She looks like she’s going to eat him; he blinks a lot.

On-and-off ensemble member Neko Case perches wistfully on an antique chair and belts out to no one in particular, tapping her sneakers and sipping a magenta drink. As the kids touch, their hands slowly turn from black-and-white to color, a la “Pleasantville.”

Suddenly, thick Technicolor goo starts spurting from every corner of the house—wall paintings, equestrian statues, baskets of fruit, and (yuck) their hands. Even the couch starts to bleed. And when they finally start making out, pinkness drips from their mouths like they’re diseased.

Thankfully, reliable frontman and primary songwriter A.C. Newman (and his niece!) brave the oozing to provide lilting piano, acoustic guitar, and backing harmonies, all while standing robotically. It’s really quite impressive.

This is the first time Neko has appeared in a New Pornographers video since their first album (Newman has even said they sometimes forget she’s a part of the band), so it’s nice to see her return to the spotlight. Though mellower fare than their usual power-pop, the song is gorgeous, which compensates for the video’s slightly creepy couple and lack of action. Plus, the old-movie production touches (scratched lens, frames with fuzzy black edges) are interesting enough.

Still, it’s hard not to long for their drum-heavy days, and Tobias Bluth too. But, alas, to quote one of their classic songs, the laws have changed.

—Jessica R. Henderson