Teenage Fanclub

Shadows (Merge)

By Erin Wolf
Published: June 7th, 2010 | 7:00am

The fact that jangle pop has endured the tornado blasts of more intense genres whistling by and still manages to sound cool, collected, and timeless is a satisfying wonder in and of itself to pop aficionados. Glasgow’s long-standing jangle pop pros Teenage Fanclub formed in 1989, banking on classic tones from the Byrds and Big Star and catchy vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys. It’s never been more apparent than on the band’s eighth album, Shadows, that they’re in their comfort zone and perfectly happy not to budge.

Whereas 2005’s Man-Made, their first release on their own PeMa label in the UK and Merge in the U.S., sounded a bit downtrodden, Shadows shows Teenage Fanclub easing comfortably into the solid pop writing the quartet is known for. Between the three singer-songwriters (Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley), Shadows utilizes pop’s sweet spot of capable hooks, pretty, unadorned guitars, and soaring vocal harmonies.

The album begins with a lounge-pop guitar line reminiscent of the Sea & Cake (“Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe in Anything”), then gloriously punches it up with distortion, keys, and brass. Blake’s “Baby Lee” is decidedly more power pop, playing up the pastiche quality of the band’s three-songwriter formula. Only until bassist Love’s “Shock and Awe” does Teenage Fanclub go back to their grungier pop roots initiated on early material such as Bandwagonesque (which, at the time, beat out Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, and R.E.M. for Spin Magazine’s best album of 1991). “Shock and Awe” is confident and takes full advantage of the addition of pop strings to naturally drive the chugging electric guitars. This is where Teenage Fanclub proves that they’re still an exciting—though absolutely consistent—listen, over 20 years later. Classic pop music is not only still standing, it’s standing strong.

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Teenage Fanclub official Web site

Teenage Fanclub MySpace page

Merge Records