The Scottish band’s eleventh album feels uniquely pensive, even tentative. Nearly every song will have you humming along, though few seem designed to grab your attention.
New music from Teenage Fanclub settles into the world like the first days of spring—subtly, quietly, with a sigh of relief. For fans of the long-running Scottish power-pop band, the defining qualities of their music—chiming three-part harmonies, breezy major-key melodies, and dreamy, lovesick lyrics—have come to feel so pleasant and familiar that measuring their current work against their past can seem a little beside the point: Could it be sunnier? Did it feel more exciting when you were younger? These concerns melt away within a few notes: Just open your windows and let it in.
In a career defined by consistency, Teenage Fanclub’s eleventh album, Endless Arcade, is their first preceded by a sense of rupture. In summer 2018, after much of their catalog was reissued on vinyl, Gerard Love, one of three primary songwriters and vocalists, announced his departure from the band. It was slightly troubling news: Love penned fan favorites like “Star Sign” and “Sparky’s Dream,” as well as many highlights from more recent albums. During the 21st century, his reedy voice and soaring choruses have inspired Teenage Fanclub’s most energetic moments, reminders that this band once caused a frenzy at their shows.
Without Love’s contributions, Endless Arcade feels uniquely pensive, even tentative, among their releases. The moments that stand out initially do so for their novelty: the extended guitar solo that closes “Home,” the uncharacteristically dissonant chord changes in the title track, the presence of newest member, keyboardist Euros Childs, on British Invasion throwbacks like “Warm Embrace.” Songwriters Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley can still write melodies culled from a heavenly jukebox alongside all the lost hits of the ’60s, but while nearly all of them will have you humming along, few seem designed to grab your attention.
Like all of Teenage Fanclub’s albums, Endless Arcade reveals itself slowly, and much of the action takes place below the surface. My favorite song is Blake’s “The Sun Won’t Shine on Me,” with a harpsichord accompaniment that tiptoes around its amiable, waltz-time guitar riff. It is the kind of song that could play on endless loop, and when the dual guitar solo segues into a final singalong round of the chorus, you get the sense they feel the same way. “Back in the Day” has a similar effect: Its airtight, gently aching verse and chorus melodies create the effect of a constant cycle of hooks. “I just can’t seem to find the peace of mind that I knew back in the day,” Blake sings as his bandmates try to replicate that sense of comfort.
This thematic territory—self-doubt, aging, nostalgia—spans the record and can sometimes make Endless Arcade feel like a gloomy concept album. While the title and cozy pace of the opening track “Home” suggest a band settling into their comfort zone, the lyrics tell a different story: “I sometimes wonder If I’ll ever be home again,” Blake sings in the chorus, paraphrasing a Carole King classic about a relationship broken by distance. His words suggest a moment of uncertainty from a band that often plays the role of uplifters, offering their music as a beacon of stability. When the last chorus ends, a long guitar solo takes the spotlight, fuzzy and bittersweet, sprawling out and doubling the length of the song. Winding through just two chords, it neither builds the tension nor resolves it. Slowly, the entire band falls under its spell, swaying back and forth, lapping along. It’s like they don’t want to leave us.
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