Teenage Fanclub

***The wait is over! TEENAGE FANCLUB have returned with Here, the band’s first album in six years. As ever, song-wise the Fanclub present a textbook representation of democracy in action, the record offering four each by NORMAN BLACKE, GERARD LOVE and RAYMOND MCGINLEY. From the almighty chime of opener “I’m In Love” through the ecstatic soul-search of “The First Sight” and the paean to unerring friendship “With You,” Here is a collection of twelve songs about the only things that truly matter: life and love. As is befitting of a record that took its time to arrive, Here uses reflective space to dazzling effect. “Steady State,” with its gorgeous ebb and flow, has echoes of The Notorious Byrd Brothers’ astral jangle, while “I Was Beautiful When I Was Alive” unexpectedly curves off from dreamlike beginnings into a semi-acoustic/motorik outro, sonically replacing the steady beat of the German autobahn with the vast open skies of the Pacific Coast Highway. Not for one second is Here the sound of procrastination or headscratching. It’s 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. Here is a record that embraces maturity and experience and hugs them close.