Record Review: The Thrills - "Teenager"

Rating: 7.7 / 10.0

Anyone who has listened to The Thrills knows that they can be depended upon to keep The Byrds and The Beach Boys' memories alive and more or less well. Their first album, "So Much For The City", was the quintessential summer record - chock full of catchy, put-the-top-down tunes, with Conor Deasy delivering the infectious melodies in his soothing, airy half-whisper. Say what you will about it, it was enough to get them noticed, and to earn them a nomination for the Mercury Prize.

They followed that album with "Let's Bottle Bohemia", a record that was indescribably forgettable, and infinitely worse than their first. I think the reason that album aggravated me so much was that it employed the same formula as "SMftC", just not as well (with the notable exception of the excellent "Not For All the Love in the World"). Their inane eulogy to the career of Corey Haim had a twinge of (unintended) irony: I (pop culture Nostradamus that I am) said that if they put out another record like "Let's Bottle Bohemia", they could look forward to the same obscurity as Mr. Haim.

That brings us to "Teenager", their third album. Coming off a sophomore slump of epic proportions, the Dubliners were faced with that immortal, critical choice: tread familiar ground and risk committing all the same sins as before, or take a dramatic step forward into uncharted ground and risk falling flat? On "Teenager", they opt for the former, and the result is an attempt to refine and sophisticate the sound that had so much potential on "So Much", which they pretty royally botched on "Let's Bottle Bohemia". Efforts like this are tricky. Old habits are hard to eradicate; bands generally have a tough time not making all the same mistakes all over again. But The Thrills have shown an impressive ability to put themselves under the microscope. "Teenager" is, in every way, far more sophisticated and far more consistent than either of its predecessors.

Lyrically, the band is writing less for a teenage audience, and more about a teenage audience. The songs capture all the insecurity, misplaced swagger, rebelliousness, and (again) insecurity of teenage years. I won't ask how these twentysomethings have nailed it so well, but they have. It's a retrospective that is refreshingly genuine and striking for its simplicity. The characters inspire sympathy; they appeal to that part of us that regrets how we spent our teenage years, that little nagging piece of us that simultaneously wishes we could go back but rejoices that we're past the hellish hormonal minefield that was our teenage years.

Musically, it's still The Thrills: harmonies plucked straight from the Beach Boys, enough "doo doo doo"s and "la la la"s to make Burt Bachrach proud. But the whole affair is more tightly wound, more controlled than "So Much for the City". Piano and guitar constitute the melodic foundation of "Teenager", with a healthy dose of banjo and strings (like on "Should've Known Better"), and it seems The Thrills have finally got a grip on how to make those two instruments interact well. Unlike on prior efforts, the piano and guitar stay out of each other's way. Other than that, the accents are more tasteful, the harmonies brighten the mix instead of thickening it, and the rhythm section is about as good as it's ever been.

I never thought I'd say so, but I think "Teenager" is The Thrills' best effort yet - tighter, more meaningful, and deeper, but still approachable and catchy. So go ahead: put the top down, get on the nearest beachside highway, and turn up the volume.


-PTC