Teenage Fanclub generally sound very like Teenage Fanclub. Which is a strange thing to say given that I couldn’t for the life of me explain what’s original about the Teenage Fanclub sound (they’ve arguably made a career plundering the sonic wardrobes of Big Star and The Byrds), except to say that somehow it is original. This record sees the four now middle-aged musicians, engaged in their habitual vocal harmonisation, jingle-jangle strumming and twinkly guitar-picking, with aid from a string section, organist, piano player and glockenspiel basher (towards the end of the record there’s even a blast of slide-guitar).
These non-jangly touches are essentially the reflective flicks of grey on the band’s musical temples. Teenage Fanclub certainly know how to age gracefully (no midlife-crisis-style Friends-Reunited tour for them, given that they never actually broke up) and there’s plenty of calm peaceful adult reflection (about summer-turning-to-autumn and mid-life contentment and marriage and our relationship with the past) strewn melodically across this ridiculously relaxed, catchy and, quite frankly, lovely record. The effect is almost pastoral (there’s even ample use of the word “thee” on ‘When I Still Have Thee’ and things generally don’t get more pastoral than that). All in all, however, this is just a slightly slowed down and more orchestrated version of.... Teenage Fanclub. Yes, Teenage Fanclub still sound very like Teenage Fanclub, God is in his heaven and all is well with His earth.