The long-running, Glasgow-based, indie rock outfit Teenage Fanclub’s newest album, Nothing Lasts Forever, goes against its title, as it is a continuation of the band’s mix of melancholic and jangly pop rock styles.
Opening with the first single and strongest effort “Foreign Land”, the band (Norman Blake on guitar and vocals, Raymond McGinley on guitar and vocals, with Francis Macdonald on drums, Dave McGowan on bass, and Euros Childs on keyboard) start off with feedback before crisp guitar work in sunshiney fashion pushes things along as rich bass and spacey synths percolate underneath it all.
Main songwriters Blake and McGinley both seemed to focus on the passing of time and moving on lyrically throughout Nothing Lasts Forever, and that can be seen directly in the seasonal evolving “Tired Of Being Alone”. The bass work from McGowan and swirling keys from Childs anchor the psych-tinged “Falling Into The Sun”, while the closer “I Will Love You” stretches out with spacey passages in a pleasant fashion.
Unfortunately, at times the retro indie rock slips into a sense of dullness and can feel like a retread from Teenage Fanclub themselves. The cliche lyrics and blander tone of tracks like “I Left A Light On”, “It’s Alright” and “Middle Of My Mind” make all these efforts play more like filler, flushing out the album’s better tunes.
Those include the marching, Beatles-sounding “Self-Sedation” which is engaging lyrically and feels inspired by the solo era of Lennon and McCartney; as if they came together on an adult track. The bright “Back To The Light” is pepped up with great drumming from MacDonald and “See The Light” is a sweet change of pace with a light groove and sax work.
At this point in their over thirty-year career, Teenage Fanclub is confident in their mixture of light touches around an indie rock foundation and Nothing Lasts Forever continues them on their journey.
