It's Depression Mode. I'm John Moe. I'm glad you're here.

There's a podcast called Song Exploder. You might have heard it. It's pretty well known. It's really good.

Each episode of that show features a different songwriter, who, along with the host,

Rishikeshirwe, picks apart a song that they wrote. It talks about all the inspiration and

decisions that went into forming that song. Well, we're going to do a special depresh mode version

of that concept this week. Call it song imploder, I guess. You're listening to

white-out conditions by the new pornographers. It's off their 2017 album of the same name.

The new pornographer is formed in 1997 in Vancouver, Canada, and they've been making music

ever since.

The band has been described as power pop or post-punk.

I have a hard time describing their music myself, because it's unique, lush, layered arrangements,

unexpected sounds arriving at unexpected times, fitting perfectly.

It's complex music, but elegant. They're kind of a super group, too. Many of the members are

successful solo artists like Nico Case, Dan Behar, and the leader of the new pornographers,

A. C. Newman. A. C. Newman wrote the song, White Out Conditions, sings on it,

and a while back he told me that it was written about a really bleak, depressed time in his recent past.

He's been dealing with depression and anxiety for many years.

Now, based on what I know about mental health and creativity, I think it's pretty rare for someone

to be in a bad mental state and stay very productive, creatively. And I wanted to see what we

could learn about creativity and depression and anxiety from someone who had all three rocking at

once.

I think it could shed some light on the music and the person and what they're going through.

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