It's no small thing being able to write consistently beautiful pop songs...but it sure is something that people take for granted. Scotland's Teenage Fanclub know a thing or two about that. 25 years of genius, ebuliiently harmonized tunes should make them legends. Instead, one of the best kept secrets out there (Norman Blake lives in Kitchener now people! He's one of us!) Here is their 11th album and it's really great. Just like all the others. In fact, after a few weeks with it, it might just be their best LP in some time. If you're already a fan, you'll love it. If you haven't been converted yet, your best chance is here. (See what we did there? Just come and get the record.)
"On Here, the balance between melody and whipped-up layer is a bit more complicated, and it portrays well the album’s central tension. The way “The First Sight” opens up from dreamy melodies into towering guitar riffs and horn sections. The keys and dusty fills that tangle up the end of “I Have Nothing More to Say”. The quiet chords that yield to the loud propulsion of “I’m in Love”. The brilliantly layered vocal harmonies clashing with distorted notes on “It’s a Sign”. Every turn complicates and muddies up the album’s power-pop center without distracting from sweet hooks and beautiful turns of phrase. In short, to listen to Here is to engage with its thematic complications. Every song keeps you in the moment, keeps you paying attention. But it’ll go with you into the future; it will ring in your ears. And, eventually, you’ll think back fondly on the first time you heard these solid and shifting songs." - Popmatters