The Skyline Askew

The New Pornographers “Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile”

“Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile” relies more on groove and atmosphere than most New Pornographers songs, and places John Collins’ bass – an easily overlooked element of the band – at the foreground of the arrangement. It works well in gently shifting the listener’s expectations of their music going into their eighth record but also establishes a feel of just-off destabilization that carries through the entire song and its lyrical themes. Carl Newman positions this as a sort of love song, but eliminates all traces of sentimentality and affection in his words and vocal inflections. The song starts with him making a pointed clarification – “you look just like a starmaker / that is NOT like a star” – and the rest of the lines signal calculation, cynicism, and mistrust. The chorus still has a slight love buzz to it as Kathryn Calder sings about a disorienting feeling that wipes out balance and reasonable interpretations of events. You can’t help but be passively manipulated by this person. In the words of another great song, it’s “fate up against your will.”

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