Lyric discussion by Donny1 

Cover art for Mass Romantic lyrics by New Pornographers, The

Haven't researched this one yet but let me guess:

This is a deal about trying to be cool through the trendiest trends of the day like you wearing Foster Grants. Our boy reads the books on tape which is very cool. Listening to the books is like singing to the radio it's like we are in love with the singer and it's just a fake pop song. The book is like the voice which is like finding the true love sent down by God and it's just a book read by kids who stay out all night at shows a lot. You've read the cool book, seen the show, watched the TV program and are cool?- are you?- what have you really done to build a real life? You need to get a life this is not the way. You are coming home in the dawn and the street is active for you. You are a commercial fool who has gotten a one night stand and the light shines in your face from the curtain- as you wake up you realize how this type of sex is stolen virtue and this is what the garbage radio songs forget to mention about living this type of life. This is what you don't hear in all the lyrics of the songs you act out. Now you are fighting with the girl in the streets and you realize your soul is taken by this short relationship. You are walking back home at dawn yet again not from a show this time but from the home of your pick-up. It is not good for you to walk home in the dawn street light this way- you are ruining your long-term for the short. The effects or beat of this way intensifies as you keep taking this wrong way of living to the next level. This is the boys life amongt the street lights as he comes home just before the lights are about to turn off for day. The boy will waste the day and the ability to have the long-term and much better existence overtime while sleeping off the activities of the night. He will wake-up late in the afternoon or early at night to start this life again until he comes to his senses and starts to clean-up his act and have the great life. Not random pick-ups that are very sporadic and then just staying out at the trendy places at night but a life with lasting love and maybe the fewer good shows- the light where he is in the day the right way not trying to sleep through the light as it seeps through the curtains of his short-term lover's room.
That's just a guess so you need to search for interviews about the meaning of this song... so far it seems to me that all the lyrics I can remember from this band- I have brain fog still follow this range of theme. The comeback answer is always No , No, No, No, No, No, No... the church or spirituality always rings No, No, No, No, No, No, No in TNP's world. Or This is not a Love Song...

My Interpretation

@Donny1 Sounds accurate, being about people who think they're "cool" but aren't. The "Hollow Stars" are just pop stars without much interest in you specifically, and so their love is just a sweet pop song without much but what YOU take to the table to interpret it and relate it to your own life.

It's about "this boy's life among the electrical lights." Like on the Las Vegas strip. "Bon appetit, you've eaten me alive; you realize, this is not the way."