AC Newman
Shut Down the Streets - MATADOR
FILTER Grade: 81%
By Loren Auda Poin on October 11, 2012
AC Newman, with former bandmates Dan Bejar and Neko Case, were the aughts’ palace-court mavens of sublime pop. With Shut Down the Streets, Newman proves this supremacy still counts for something. The nitro-powered esoterica of his New Pornographers days has faded, though, in favor of a more restrained beauty. On the standout “You Could Get Lost,” a repeated cliché attains majestic significance, proving that simplicity is often a popsmith’s best weapon in the war against boredom.