Chris Ingalls: Hey, the Posies made a strong comeback album this year, why can’t Teenage Fanclub? It’s pretty much what you’d expect from these Scottish indie vets — timeless college rock with an irresistible AM radio sheen. This love letter to sophisticated ’70s pop works so well that it sounds like Gerry Rafferty crashing a Bread recording session. Short, sweet, and chock full of lovely melodies and chiming guitar licks. I’m sold. [8/10]
Pryor Stroud: Staunch power pop revivalists and unabashed Big Star acolytes Teenage Fanclub return with “I’m in Love”, their first new material since 2010’s well-crafted yet forgettable Shadows. If the track signifies anything, it’s that these pop classicists refuse to stray from the sound that they’ve cultivated over their decades-long career: namely, a straightforward genus of melodic pop-rock that exalts adolescent boy-meets-girl romanticism and prides itself on hyper-simplistic song structures. Lyrically speaking, “I’m in Love” may lean on a few too many platitudes — “It feels good / With you next to me” — but, somehow, perhaps because of the band’s uncompromising aesthetic purism, perhaps because the song itself hits your brain like a rush of dopamine, it never feels trite or trivial. [6/10]
John Bergstrom: Just when the world is looking blacker than black, up pop Teenage Fanclub with a song about how “I’m in love with you, love”. What would be trite in less experienced hands here becomes pure-pop gold. As for the video, surely they are too old to be mistaken for Big Star any more, aren’t they? [7/10]
Steve Horowitz: For those who think the world doesn’t have enough of silly love songs, this one is for you! Pop music in its traditional rock guise that would make Paul McCartney smile, but without the studio excesses that came to swallow up the DIY nature of personal expressions. This is delightful in its simplicity and charming in its straight-forward declarations. [8/10]
Chad Miller: This song has a really good melody throughout. It seems really heartfelt too. My one complaint is that the volume seems to stay still a little too much. The result is an odd state in between going all out and holding back. Other than that though, the song is very enjoyable. [7/10]
Teenage Fanclub‘s new album, Here, releases 9 September via Merge Records.
SCORE: 7.20