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Teenage Fanclub

Here

    One of the UK's most celebrated bands, Teenage Fanclub, make their their long-awaited return with the release of tenth album, Here, released on the band's own PeMa label.

    Here is the the effortless work of a band entirely confident in their own craft - the consolidation of nearly three decades of peerless songwriting and almost telepathic musicianship amongst the band's three founder members: Norman Blake, Raymond McGinley and Gerard Love. Recorded with the band’s soundman David Henderson alongside regular drummer Francis Macdonald and keyboard player Dave McGowan in three distinctly different environments (initially at Vega in rural Provence, then at Raymond’s home in Glasgow before mixing at Clouds Hill in the industrial heart of Hamburg), it’s a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close.

    As ever, song-wise the Fanclub present a textbook representation of democracy in action, the record offering four each by Blake, Love and McGinley. From the almighty chime of opener I’m In Love through The First Sight’s ecstatic soul-search and the paean to unerring friendship With You, Here is a a collection of twelve songs about the only things that truly matter - life and love.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Andy says: More glorious melodies (and harmonies!) from the ever-dependable Teenage Fanclub. This band thrives by having 3 separate songwriters, all different, yet all distinctly Fannie-tastic. And by going away for half a decade, their gems are perfectly formed, polished little beauties, sent to warm even the coldest heart.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. I'm In Love
    2. Thin Air
    3. Hold On
    4. The Darkest Part Of The Night
    5. I Have Nothing More To Say
    6. I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive
    7. The First Sight
    8. Live In The Moment
    9. Steady State
    10. It's A Sign
    11. With You
    12. Connected To Life

    Teenage Fanclub

    Endless Arcade

      Teenage Fanclub have announced news of their tenth studio album, Endless Arcade, released 5th March. Even if we weren’t living through extraordinarily troubling times, there is nothing quite like a Teenage Fanclub album to assuage the mind, body and soul, and to reaffirm that all is not lost in this world.

      Endless Arcade follows the band’s ninth album “Here”, released in 2016 to universal acclaim and notably their first Top 10 album since 1997; a mark of how much they’re treasured. The new record is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heart-warming and heart-aching; guitars chime and distort; keyboard lines mesh and spiral; harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day.

      In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as “Bandwagonesque” and “Grand Prix”. This century, albums such as “Shadows” and “Here” have documented a more relaxed, less ‘teenage’ Fanclub, reflecting the band’s stage in life and state of mind, which Endless Arcade slots perfectly alongside. The album walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts - insecurity, anxiety, loss.

      Such is life. But the title track suggests, “Don’t be afraid of this endless arcade that is life.”

      A preview from the album came in February 2019 with Raymond’s ‘Everything Is Falling Apart’, an online single released at the outset of a six-month tour and a highlight of Endless Arcade.

      Everything is falling apart? Well, yes, but the song was written long before COVID-19 arrived. Neither was Raymond’s inspiration political or social, but more, “the entropy in the universe, the knowledge that everything eventually decays,” he explains. But Raymond says relax. Or rather, “Relax, find love, hold on to the hand of a friend”.

      Fortunately, Endless Arcade was virtually finished by the time lockdown was announced, bar the odd tinker under the engine hood. It seems timely, given how everyone had to initially stay home under lockdown, that the album starts with Norman’s ‘Home’, though it was chosen in part because of its opening line: “Every morning, I open my eyes...” The album’s longest track (at seven minutes) typifies TFC’s relaxed groove, culminating in Raymond’s peach of a guitar solo.

      Norman’s search for ‘home’ could be literal: after all, he’s been living in Canada for the last 10 years. But it’s also figurative. Like Norman’s other Endless Arcade songs – The Sun Won’t Shine On Me’, ‘Warm Embrace’, ‘I’m More Inclined’, ‘Back In The Day’ and ‘Living With You’ – his words on ‘Home’ are etched by loss and yearning. “Without going into too much detail, the last eighteen months have been challenging for me on an emotional level,” he admits. “But it’s been cathartic channelling some of these feelings and emotions into song.”

      In contrast, Raymond’s songs – he’s also responsible for ‘Come With Me’, ‘In Our Dreams’, ‘The Future’ and ‘Silent Song’ – are philosophical and questing. As he sings in ‘The Future’: “It’s hard to walk into the future when your shoes are made of lead”, but he’s still going to try, “and see sights we’ve never seen.”

      In the band’s own near future, they’re already planning another new album given they can’t yet tour the one they’re releasing now. Welcome back, Teenage Fanclub, unafraid of this endless arcade that is life.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: With one of the most legendary discographies behind them, it's no surprise that the new album from these Glasgow stalwarts is every bit the triumph. Clanging guitar lines and nigh-whispered silken vox coalesce together into an oddly triumphant (the irony of the beautifully melodic 'Everything Is Falling Apart' being one of the highlights is not lost on me) and brilliantly wistful treat.

      TRACK LISTING

      CD
      1. Home
      2. Endless Arcade
      3. Warm Embrace
      4. Everything Is Falling Apart
      5. The Sun Won’t Shine On Me
      6. Come With Me
      7. In Our Dreams
      8. I’m More Inclined
      9. Back In The Day
      10. The Future
      11. Living With You
      12. Silent Song

      LP
      A1. Home
      A2. Endless Arcade
      A3. Warm Embrace
      A4. Everything Is Falling Apart
      A5. The Sun Won’t Shine On Me
      A6. Come With Me
      B1. In Our Dreams
      B2. I’m More Inclined
      B3. Back In The Day
      B4. The Future
      B5. Living With You
      B6. Silent Song

      Teenage Fanclub

      Shadows

        Teenage Fanclub reissue two more of their classic albums on vinyl – Man-Made and Shadows. Both packaged in faithful re-productions of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl. 

        The band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album. 

        TRACK LISTING

        LP
        1. Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
        2. Baby Lee
        3. The Fall
        4. Into The City
        5. Dark Clouds
        6. The Past
        7. Shock And Awe
        8. When I Still Have Thee
        9. Live With The Seasons
        10. Sweet Days Waiting
        11. The Back Of My Mind
        12. Today Never Ends

        Bonus 7”
        1. Dark And Lonely
        2. Secret Heart

        Teenage Fanclub

        Man-Made

          Teenage Fanclub reissue two more of their classic albums on vinyl – Man-Made and Shadows. Both packaged in faithful re-productions of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl.

          The band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album. 

          TRACK LISTING

          LP
          1. It’s All In My Head
          2. Time Stops
          3. Nowhere
          4. Save
          5. Slow Fade
          6. Only With You
          7. Cells
          8. Feel
          9. Fallen Leaves
          10. Flowing
          11. Born Under A Good Sign
          12. Don’t Hide

          Bonus 7”
          1. Falling Leaf
          2. Please Stay


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