Frontperson

★★★ Parade OSCAR ST. CD/DL/LP

Where New Pornographers meet Woodpigeon for the second time.

Frontperson recorded their self-titled debut in a museum, but this time New Pornographers keyboardist/ vocalist Kathryn Calder and Woodpigeon leader Mark Andrew Hamilton were tempted by the more conventional environment of a studio. They’ve taken a giant leap forwards. Utilising a little from both parent acts without sounding like either, it’s a cavalcade of multi-layered sound as the Canadian duo roll and tumble like Cocteau Twins circa Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops on Visions, and hurtle into Arcade Fire-style harmony on Fastest, which ends with a glockenspiel wig-out. The pair’s vocals are very different – him, all rueful on the ballad Tattoo Boy; her, warm and ethereal on the woozy Table Of Contents – but they’re complementary and when the pair crash into each other, trading lines on Ostalgie (Für C. Bischoff) in sparkling fashion, they really are quite special. John Aizlewood