The New Pornographers – Continue As A Guest

NP are masters at their craft of making indie rock bliss. “Continue As A Guest” flows magically with beautiful harmonies,sparkling guitar work,outstanding bass play,perfectly placed synths & even some of the best sax I have heard since the 80s. It all comes together to form one of the best NP albums in their discography. An absolute joy to spin.

On first play mine is noticeably crackly on the B side, quite bad on the quiet bits. Will try cleaning in the hope of improvement.

Good looking and flat, and no pops or clicks on my copy. However, it’s a bit of a hot mastering, like most of the NP records I have coming out of GZ. Cymbals are splashy and imprecise and there’s a fair amount of sibilance, even with a MicroLine stylus in play. That’s likely going to be an issue no matter which variant you get, so you might as well get the pretty looking one!

Wow, another great NP record. This is the first record of theirs that I've bought since Brill Bruisers. The first track is a stand out.

This pressing is still available as of 4.17.23 directly from the band: https://newpornographers.limitedrun.com/products/737037-continue-as-a-guest-lp-milky-clear

Great sleeve, inner and very cool vinyl colour. Flat pressing, quite background.

Side One sounds great until the final track. Continue As Guest opens with lots of pops and crackles. Have wet and dry washed the record before play but… Hoping another deep clean gets to the dirt.

Will update if Side Two has any noticeable issues, or if I manage to remove the pops from Continue As Guest.

This pressing sounds really good. Nice and quiet playback. Really digging the new tunes!

A few crackles from B3 to B5, but otherwise it sounds fairly good. I haven't given it a cleaning, either, so that might help. Musically, it feels like a return to form after the solid but uneven In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights. It has a gauzy, aural-soft-focus feel that seems deliberate. Dreamy, but unmistakably neo-pornographic. The best NPs effort since Brill Bruisers, in my humble view. Your mileage may vary.

My blue in green copy is fairly crackly. It’s stamped made in Canada on the reverse side shrink, but sounds and was stuck in the sleeve like a GZ pressing. The art and colors suit it, I think.

My pressing is fairly quiet. Purchased at Barnes and Noble. The mixes have some interesting processing on the vocals in particular. Assuming this was the album they made during quarantine due to all the various studios listed within the liner notes. Pretty consistent album with "Cat and Mouse With The Light" being the instant standout track for me.