When I picked this up, I was excited because I thought that it would be a departure from the New Pornagraphers, and I was excited to hear what Carl Newman had up his sleeve. Upon the first listen I was disappointed, it sounded like a rehash of the New Pornagraphers without Neko Case's fabulous voice, or Dan Bejar's experimentation. It did not listen to it again for some time.

Then something magical happened. I put it into rotation on my ipod and gave the songs a second listen. The slowly infected my conciousness and I gave the entire album another listen. I was not disappointed, but I still wasn't overly thrilled. However, the more I listened, the more it became something I had to listen to. Now, it may have become a 'desert island' album for me. (Although, given that scenario I hope I have my ipod and my solar charger!)

This album lives up to its name. It is a 'Slow Wonder'. Slow to appreciate, but a wonder to behold.

Where this one fits: The Slow Wonder follows the New Pornographers' Mass Romantic and Electric Version, but precedes Twin Cinema. It is the transition from the frenetic power-pop of the first two NP albums and the deeper, more timeless quality of their latest. Without the burden of the NP "sound" to live up to, Newman stretches, writes ballads and Pink Floyd-y space out songs (though always concise), and if anything gets more Pet Sounds-like in his musical arrangements (the gorgeous trumpet on "Come Crash," the driving, rhythmic cello on "Town Halo").

Newman is, quite obviously, very prolific and his batting average is stunningly high. It's okay with me if he mixes in solo albums with his NP output, using them as places to experiment with new kinds of songs that he thinks maybe his NP fans won't cotton to.

But this album is full of hits, just as melodic and with just as many "how does he do that?" high-wire assemblages of melody, rhythm and arrangement as the NP delivers. If you like the New Pornographers, you'll be joyous at hearing "On the Table," "Mystery Drug," "Secretarial" and my favorite "The Town Halo." A.C. Newman is rapidly becoming the most valuable pop artist on the planet, a keeper of the great tradition of pop/rock songwriters that has nearly died out.

If you love the New Pornographers (Newman is their unannounced band leader) but would occassionally like something a bit more introspective and chilled out then this could very well be what you're after.

Carl Newman has a way with a melodic hook and a pop reference that is utterly unique.

Without fail, my response to his work goes something like this: First listen - everything seems pleasantly hard to grasp, but there are one or two songs (always different for each listener) that instantly hooks you. For me, on this album it was - 'The Battle for Straight Time'.

Next step - play that song to death. While drilling this track, you accidently hear other tracks from the album again - "damn, that's catchy, why didn't I notice that before? - possibly better than my favorite track". And so it goes on, and on, and on... Eventually, you're in raptures and you've even learnt how to hear music a little differently.

This album has a variety of laid back, edgy, insanely catchy riffs and progressions.

Although he draws on a subconscious library of pop music references that are detailed and eclectic, he is able to turn the songs into personal statements.

They're always ever so slightly twisted to make them unique to Newman's particular style of presentation. He also has a great way of processing and altering his vocals to fit each song perfectly.

At the moment, I can't stop listening to 'The Town Halo' (a new millenium take on T-Rex), and the beautiful, dispassionately powerful 'Come Crash' but I'm sure tomorrow I'll be rotating two different tunes from this album.

It is an altogether more personal and soul baring outing than anything he does with the New Porno's. In that sense it's a legitimate exercise as a solo album.

Music this literate and melodic doesn't come along often. I hope Newman continues to grow and explore. There's no limit to what he might discover.

Carl Newman has been the creative core of two truly great bands, the late, great Zumpano and his current band, The New Pornographers. The latter is one of the most amazing acts of recent years, a band whose members were active in other bands but were recruited to be in what could be considered an indie rock super group. There is simply not another alternative band in the world with the instrumental chops and overall professionalism that grace The New Pornographers. While the writing credits for the Pornographers is left somewhat vague, everyone pretty much knows that Carl Newman is the main songwriter, as well as guitarist and co-lead singer (though there is no question The New Pornographers would be even better if Newman gave the full time singing duties to Neko Case, one of the truly great voices around).

Is this solo project as good as a New Pornographer project? By no conceivable means. On the one hand Newman has saved most of his best material for those albums and on the other THE SLOW WONDER, while performed with extreme competency, does not possess the level of musicianship that make the Pornographer albums so musically astonishing. If you listen to any of the three Pornographer albums and then this one, you will instantly be struck by how much simpler and less complex THE SLOW WONDER is. Not that it is simple compared to other performers. It is just that his band already has about the best group of musicians around, capable of astonishing virtuosity, and the people playing here aren't quite as sharp.

Nonetheless, THE SLOW WONDER pretty much proves who the heart of The New Pornographers is, if there had been any doubt. The album radiates with the great pop songs and amazing hooks that permeates the three Pornographer albums. "On the Table" has very nearly the wall-of-sound aura that graces most Pornographer songs and possesses all of the hooks. Same with "The Battle for Straight Time," which seems incapable of progressing more than a few measures without injecting fresh hooks. And I really love the weirdly unexpected guitar line that comes after Newman offers Christine a floor to crash on in "Come Crash."

One thing this album certainly does is make clear that Carl Newman is one of the truly great pop songwriters working today. In fact, the only person I would definitely rate above him would be Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian, and even then I'm not sure that Murdoch today is better than Newman today (6 years ago is a different matter). It also whets one's appetite for anything Newman does, whether with the Pornographers or on a solo project. He has in his various bands and now on this album produced as strong a body of work as anyone in music. The man is a force.

I bought this cd because I had recently discovered the New Pornographers and loved them immediately. A friend also made me a mix cd with the first track, "Miracle Drug", which I really got hooked on. Now that I have The Slow Wonder, "Miracle Drug" is still the only track that really grabs me. It could be that the rest of the album just hasn't grown on me yet, but I'm definitely not as excited about it as I thought I would be.