The Thrills: Teenager
The Thrills are a quintet from Dublin led by vocalist Conor Deasy
Also In The News
|
A roundup of all the weekend's county cricket action from the County Championship. |  |
Thursday, 26, Jul 2007 10:17
Virgin, out July 23rd.
In a nutshell
Makes their name seem ironic.
What's it all about?
Teenager
sees the five-piece return to their roots with 11 songs about their shared adolescence in Dublin. Recorded in an industrial warehouse in Vancouver, it has a very different vibe to the group's first two albums, which were composed in California. The album is produced by Tony Hoffer, who has also worked with Air, Beck and Belle & Sebastian, in addition to producing the Thrills' first album.
Who's it by
The Thrills are a quintet from Dublin, comprising lead vocalist Conor Deasy, guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan.
Since forming in 2001, they have released two albums. So Much for the City debuted at number one in the Irish chart on its release in 2003 and earned NME and Brit award nominations, along with a Q award for Best New Act.
The band's second album, Let's Bottle Bohemia, met with popular and some critical acclaim in 2004, largely on the back of hit single Whatever Happened to Corey Haim? which featured REM's Peter Buck.
The first single from Teenager - Nothing Changes Around Here - reached number 48 on the UK singles chart.
As an example
"And the midnight choir they sing. They sing a hymn we used to believe in. But it's all we've got" - The Midnight Choir.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Unlikely to make an impression stateside. Even those of us driven to self-flagellation by the ubiquitous sound of Chris Martin's voice have to concede that he does this thing so much better.
What the others say
"The jangly indie-pop treads perilously between whingeing and irritating chirping, but the band mostly manage to avoid both, even if Teenager does have a maudlin lilt" - Rob Nash in the Times.
"This surfeit of emotion might be true to the teenage experience, but with maturity should come the realisation that restraint can be more heartfelt" - Maddy Costa in the Guardian.
So is it any good?
More personal and reflective than their previous two offerings, Teenager begins promisingly. Opening track The Midnight Choir is a haunting little melody which works well with Deasy's plaintive cry of a voice.
With lead single Nothing Changes Around Here, however, it becomes clear that the album is built around weak and resolutely self-pitying lyrics.
Restaurant begins hopefully with an upbeat and ridiculously catchy guitar riff, but the lyrics convey less heartfelt sentiment than artistic indolence.
There is an undeniable rawness to Deasy's voice which is intermittently captivating enough to compensate for the fragility of his vocals and the annoyingly jangly tunes, which often sound suspiciously like one of those sample tracks you get on old-school keyboards.
For the most part though, this album is a masterclass in mediocrity. The band might argue that they are simply enacting the naivety and narcissism of youth. They might, but they'd be wrong. Nobody ever said that a concept album has to be written "in character", though admittedly Deasy does whiny like a pro.
More nostalgia than a school reunion and eyeing Westlife's mantle in the mawkish stakes, Teenager is a yelp of victimhood without the attitude to carry it off. Oh, and I never, ever want to hear another banjo again.
4/10
Meghan Graham
