Album Review
Teenage Fanclub - Here
3 Stars‘Here’ joins the rest of the group’s catalogue in being consistently enjoyable, yet on this occasion not without flaw.
Teenage Fanclub have enjoyed a near thirty year-career as one of Britain’s go to powerpop exports - having found success with modern classics ‘Bandwagonesque’ and ‘Grand Prix’ through the nineties, the group have delivered with consistent quality since. 2005’s ‘Shadows’ was another bright reminder of their songwriting chops - and over ten years on, it still show no signs of waning.
‘Here’ finds each member at a matured yet no less tender-hearted chapter in their lives. ‘The First Sight’ and ‘Live In A Moment’ are subtly beautiful uses of orchestral emotion and favourable melody, and ‘It’s A Sign’ embodies the influence of the group on some of their American contemporaries - phosphorescent hooks meeting delicate diary entries on life. ‘I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive’ is a purposeful middle, leisurely delivery replacing their sharpness for contemplation and reinvention - the perhaps unintentional combination between the group’s uplifting pop and pensive, less moving melodrama.
Through their slight development it’s difficult to entirely engage in the album at chosen moments, a matter of pretty structures breezing through without leaving a mark. ‘I Have Nothing More To Say’ is undeniably graceful in its ethereal approach, yet veers too far into the clouds - melancholic tales of absence lost within the prioritised effect. ‘Hold On’s attempts at a positive influence is commendable yet plodding - an unremarkable drift that’s rectified with further listens, yet takes away some of the group’s reliance for impactful immediacy.
‘Here’ joins the rest of the group’s catalogue in being consistently enjoyable, yet on this occasion not without flaw.
Read More
Gossip, Phoenix, Sleater-Kinney and more to play All Points East 2024
They're part of the just-announced full lineup joining The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie in August.
31st January 2024, 2:30pm
Teenage Fanclub - Endless Arcade
3-5 Stars
Ripping up their rulebook? Hardly. Giving long-time fans something new to enjoy? You bet.
29th April 2021, 7:55am
Teenage Fanclub share new song ‘Everything Is Falling Apart’
The track was recorded with the group’s new touring lineup.
21st February 2019, 12:00am
The New Mendicants, Mono, Glasgow
Norman Blake might have moved away but with songs like these he’ll always be welcomed back warmly.
18th July 2013, 12:52pm
With Bob Vylan, St Vincent, girl in red, Lizzy McAlpine and more.