Teenage Fanclub :: Here

56931-hereThere’s a case to be made for quality over quantity. Sometimes, bands with decades-long careers offer extensive output, pumping out album after album in an effort to appear relevant and hip. Then there’s Teenage Fanclub. Teenage Fanclub aren’t a supply-and-demand kind of band, and it works in their favor. Formed in  1989, the Scottish group’s output may have slowed in recent years —   it’s been more than half-a-decade  since the release of their 2010 album, Shadows but that doesn’t mean they’ve put music on the back burner.  Individually, they’ve been busy, devoted to  their equally wonderful side projects (work with Jad Fair, Euros Childs, the New Mendicants, Snowgoose, Lightships), content to take their time crafting a new Fanclub record, knowing that the wait will be worth it (and that their fans are patient ones).

So, exit Shadows, and enter Here.

Released September 9th  via Merge Records, Here is their third release for the label, recorded in three studios in three different countries (Raymond McGinley’s own home studio in Scotland; Vega in Provence, France; Clouds Hill in Hamburg, Germany) before being mastered at Abbey Road in London.

As with past albums, the record features a successful three-way song trade-off between members Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and McGinley. Sharing suits them well; each track offers a glimpse into their unique worlds and viewpoints. The tracks ebb, bob and flow with ’60s Baroque pop, echoes of Northern soul, touches of Krautrock, and, delicately woven in, some of the quintessential fuzz and power pop that we grew up and fell in love with. Drummer Francis Macdonald and keyboardist Dave McGowan round out each track with exquisite precision.

Beginning with the first  single, “I’m In Love,” Here opens with a bright and poppy thrill. It’s a  Norman Blake-penned tune and in keeping with his signature style, it’s a melodious romp about the subtle grace of human emotion, introducing the theme which lingers  throughout the entire album. The single’s accompanied by a music video, Teenage Fanclub’s first in years, shot at Edwyn Collins’ studio in picturesque Helmsdale. There, the imagery of the  serene shoreline echoes the movement and colors of the album’s cover painting.

Second single “Thin Air” is a Gerard Love tune, and like “I’m In Love,” it’s easy-going and buoyant, an ode to the process of surrendering to the unknown, seeking enjoyment in  life and love before it’s simply too late to partake in those  things.

Like the best of Teenage Fanclub’s music, Here  asks you to resign to the present moment, to become a more mindful individual, to be more aware of your place in the world and your place among those you know.

Few bands have aged like this — it’s easy to grow old and sink into boredom, but as for Teenage Fanclub, everything still flows and is fluid, still feels fresh, even as it has delightfully grown and aged with the passing of time. Here is like catching up with an old friend over a drink; you’ve only been apart a short period, but it seemed like decades. And like that old friend,  Here promises to reveal deeper intricacies for years to come.

Hello again. Been a while. It’s so very good to see you, fellas.

Teenage Fanclub is playing a short run of gigs across the Northeast and Midwest in October. Catch them if you can.  words / s gagné

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