CREDIT: INDOOR RECESS
Catch The New Pornographers at London Music Hall promoting its new album, Brill Bruisers.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. If there is any part of you still feeling leftover lethargy from the holidays, feeling buried by the snow and the new semester’s workload, a night of dancing to powerful alternative music should work to remove those winter blues.

London doesn’t much go wanting for great live music, and this week the hot ticket is for The New Pornographers and label mates Operators as they perform at London Music Hall on February 6. Tickets for the concert are $24.50, available in advance at Grooves and the London Music Hall box office downtown or online via ticketfly.com.

Headliner The New Pornographers released its latest album – critically endeared Brill Bruisers – on Last Gang Records in August here in Canada. Since then, the band has been igniting stages across North America.

A supergroup formed before the term even came into popularity, The New Pornographers’ collective CV reads like a who’s-who of Canadian music, indie-rock pillars in their own right. The group was founded in 1999 by Dan Bejar, Neko Case, John Collins, Carl Newman and Blaine Thurier and has since welcomed Todd Fancey, Kathryn Calder and new drummer Joseph Seiders – with countless awards and artistic endeavours to their credit.

Considering various commitments, it almost seems unthinkable that the group could be as active as they are, but vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Calder explained recently that the band is excited to share its exuberant sound, and that touring together isn’t as challenging as it may seem.

“Most of the difficulty is logistics and anybody who has ever tried to organize a dinner out for four to six people knows how impossible it can be to get everyone on the same page, on the same day,” she said. “The thing with the band is it’s everyone’s priority. We love the band. So there’s some give and take there.”

Creating and shaping the music that was to become Brill Bruisers was full of challenges, but Calder points out that it was only one part of the equation. Once the album was complete, the group further worked on the music to prepare for the stage, a process that also breathed fresh air into music from the band’s prior records.

“It’s a different thing, of course, to create a live show versus a record,” she said. “The album is really fun to play, and I was amazed … I realized how much I missed the influx of new material into the set. There was a particular set we were playing for a few years, so when we started adding the new songs, it felt really good.”

“We spent a long time getting these songs ready to play, longer than we had ever done on the other records,” she said. “There’s an element of uncertainty when you first play a song for the first time in front of people. You’re always like, ‘OK, fingers crossed that we know what we’re doing,’ because although we have been practicing, you just never know.”

According to Calder, the rehearsals moved the band to re-evaluate how it performed material from earlier in their career – rediscovering nuances in its older albums that will translate to how it’s performed onstage.

“We were all just inspired by [the new music], and the work that we were putting into it was really paying off. There were all these positive things that were happening. The new material was a really good motivator.”

The New Pornographers will share the stage for all Canadian dates with label mates Operators, which is also supporting a celebrated summer release.

The analogue/electronic/dance project formed by prolific Toronto artist Dan Boeckner has also just announced the limited release of the band’s EP on vinyl, newly available in stores in January. Operators’ EP graced many a Best Of list as 2014 wound to a close, and the band’s energy is perfectly cast to set the stage for Brill Bruisers to follow.

For more on The New Pornographers or the band’s album Brill Bruisers, visit thenewpornographers.com or follow along on Twitter @thenewpornos. For more on Operators and its release EP1, visit operatorsmusic.com or follow on Twitter @operators_band. Doors to the show on February 6 at the London Music Hall open at 8 p.m., attendance is 19 and over.

And for more of the latest music news and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Want to see this show but can’t make it out on Friday? You’ve also got a chance to see them in Guelph on February 7, Hamilton on February 8. Support your local music scene. I’m out of words.