Track Listing

1. This Night
2. Holly Going Lightly
3. Here Comes the Night
4. Chosen Few
5. Makin' Angels
6. Hey, Snow White
7. Modern Painters
8. Crystal Country
9. Trembling Peacock
10. I Have Seen a Light
11. Students Carve Hearts out of Coal
12. Goddess of Drought
13. Self Portrait With Thing (Tonight Is Not Your Night)
14. Relevant Ballads
15. Night Moves

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64260 in Music
• Released on: 2005-06-15
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Destroys popular music
I am not a fan of New Pornographers and this album is nothing like any NP album I've heard, but This Night is honestly one of the finest albums I've ever heard. All I can say about this album is that it is simply brillant. The way I see it, either you will love this album or you will hate it. There is no in-between because it doesn't give you a choice. Full of stange melodies and lyrics. Outstanding percussion and wonderfully raw guitar licks placed in the strangest of places. Yet it all makes perfect sense. Best of all is Bejar's unique voice and quarky delivery. Like anything, it's all up to personal taste, but if you like this album it is one of those that will make you remember a place in time. Burn it, buy it, try it.

Not what I expected
I'm happy that other people like this, because I think the world needs way more strange pop music, but I want to warn any New Pornographers fans looking for more like it.

I found this album almost unlistenable, as if a guitar-pop album was being improvised by a few people not really paying attention to each other. The songs are amorphous, abstract, and certainly not the catchy hooky stuff that Bejar's contributed to the New Porns' albums. One comparison might be to Shudder To Think's "Pony Express Record", where that band made the disasterous decision to combine free-jazz with indie guitar music. That's not what "This Night" sounds like, but it approaches that level of haphazard-sounding deconstruction.

Again, I am a happier person knowing that some people think this kind of thing is great stuff. But definately listen before buying.

It Will Grow on You
I first heard something from this album when I downloaded "Hey, Snow White". When it finished I couldn't believe a song 8 minutes long and with only the words "Hey snow White, its gonna be alright, but can you win some? When the company goes public you've got to learn to love what you own." It had kept my complete attention despite me being confused beyond reason on why Snow White would have a buisness going public.
I promptly knew I had to get this album. I got it as a Valentine's present and put it on as soon as I received it. My girlfriend muttered complaints that she should have kept it, and I wouldn't have blamed her. The songs were all amazing and the lyrics sounded like they were from the poetry book of an eccentric hermit. I do admit that some songs were not all that appealing to begin with, for example "The Chosen Few". Then, when I listened to it enough, it became my favorite song on the album.
Although the songs are not always super-catchy in every place, or always following a central rhythm, all of them have at least one line that draws you in, one line that will be stuck in your mind because of it's complete senselessness that seems deep and heartfelt. Really that is the beauty of this record. Bejar can sing words that mean nothing at all to you, yet he makes you believe you know what he means.

I will complete this with my favorite line on the album.

I know you've been waiting ages for your pardon
But the governors wasted in the garden
Clawing his eyes out, he's insane