Review: Teenager – Good Time

It’s not hyperbole to say that Toronto post-punks Teenager almost died while making their new album, Good Time. As the story goes, the band created it in a new space they rented for two years underneath a restaurant. Among the many things they had to deal with while working on Good Time were rats, power outages, flooding, mold, and a carbon dioxide leak that threatened everyone in the building. To then call the record that came out of this chaos “Good Time” is, I imagine, a delightful inside joke. It’s also a delightful record, so it all equals out fine.

Opening track “Beige” immediately brings early B-52’s cuts to mind with its snappy bass, swelling synths, and lyrics about everything being the same day in and day out. Teenager couldn’t have predicted two years ago how relevant this song would be in 2020. “I’m stuck in a strange wave. Everything starts to feel beige,” they sing. Everything is bland and every city neighborhood looks the same. Now, our daily routines and homes fall into this category.

The jagged angle guitars of “Trillium Song” are like a breath of fresh post-punk air in a world clogged by bro-rock smog. “Pleasure” has a bit of a Japanese punk rock vibe to it with its fun, echoing guitars and Devo-like synths as they sing, “Too much pressure for pleasure, and pleasure takes pressure.” That might be the most Zen thing I’ve read so far this month.

“Romance for Rent” is a standout. It’s a tale of a man seeking romance online since he’s incapable, or just unwilling, to find it in real life. Again, the Teenager of 2018 could not have predicted how perfect this song would be in 2020, as many of us, for the sake of our health, have to find connections online. The percussion on this track is great, mixing a full kit with conga and other hand percussion. The whole track clicks perfectly and is one of my favorite singles of the year.

“Straight to Computer” is a dire warning about the online stuff they mention in the previous track. Teenager encourage us to get outside and away from these things that are designed to keep us indoors and barraged with advertising. “Can’t remember yesterday, can’t remember what I did today,” they sing in the opening of the title track – a song about how everyone’s in the same boat and often putting on the same mask to hide that they’re miserable. It’s hard to tell where the guitars end and the synths begin in this track, which is to say that it sounds pretty neat.

The guitars on “Touching Glass” move back and forth between heavy rock riffs and bouncy post-punk grooves. The closing track, “The Drain,” could refer to cleaning out their flooded basement studio, the general feel of malaise in this day and age, or both. It’s full of bold guitars that build to a fun, hopeful energy despite its lyrics about acid rain, depression, and being in a funk. By the end you’re thinking the song isn’t about falling into a dark hole. It’s about letting negativity wash off you down the drain and away from you forever.

To put out a record this good despite all the challenges Teenager went through to complete it is damn impressive and inspirational. We all need to get off our collective keisters and do something with this bonus time we’ve been given (if, granted, we are healthy and secure enough to do so). Teenager show that we can all have a good time, a great time, if we choose to grow.

Keep your mind open.

[It would be a good time if you subscribed.]

[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Teenager offer “Romance for Rent” on new single.

Photo by Jake Sherman

WATCH: Teenanger’s “Romance For Rent” video on YouTube

Toronto’s DIY scene purveyors, Teenanger have today shared their blistering new single, “Trillium Song“, the second to be lifted from the new record, Good Time – out October 2 via Telephone Explosion Records – which has so far earned praise from outlets like PasteThe Line of Best FitExclaimBBC 6 MusicSo Young and more. The new record, which comes mixed by renowned Toronto musician, Sandro Perri, follows previous releases that have found the band share stages across North America and Europe with the likes of METZTy SegallDeath From AboveDilly DallyDish Pit and more.

“Romance For Rent” presents another snappy highlight from the forthcoming record with the quartet pulling on incisive hooks and buoyant melodies that further mine this fresh, pop-punk angle to the group’s sound. There’s a sharpness here, not just in the sonic arrangement but also in the lyrics that give a satiric examination of the world of online dating and the perplexing moves that we sometimes make as individuals when caught in the throes of romance. The video, which was shot at the height of lockdown, looks at this further, examining the role of isolation and how this can manipulate people to do peculiar things with the hope of a quick fix.

“The lyrics were inspired by a friend of mine who had come out of a long-term relationship and was exploring the world of online dating,” says singer, Chris Swimmings. “I’ve been a serial monogamist for the last 12 years so it was a vicarious exploration into his life at the time.”

Blair elaborates on Swimmings’ sentiment to say: “The ‘Romance for Rent’ video takes the idea of loneliness and buying love and puts it in a blender with internet culture. It follows a lonely man who, rather than learning how to connect with others, connects with a meme pillow, and finds some short-lived solace with it; he is trying to solve his loneliness with an internet search, and kinda clings to the first thing he finds – a celebrity pillow. When that fails to get him the attention or connection that he was looking for, he goes back online. Rather than changing anything about himself or what he’s looking for, he just repeats the same cycle.”

Good Time is out on October 2nd on Telephone Explosion. It is available for pre-order here.

Keep your mind open.

[It would be a good time if you subscribed.]

[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]

Teenager release “Trillium Song” from upcoming October album.

Photo by Jake Sherman

Toronto’s DIY scene purveyors, Teenanger have today shared their blistering new single, “Trillium Song“, the second to be lifted from the new record, Good Time – out October 2 via Telephone Explosion Records – which has so far earned praise from outlets like PasteThe Line of Best FitExclaimBBC 6 MusicSo Young and more. The new record, which comes mixed by renowned Toronto musician, Sandro Perri, follows previous releases that have found the band share stages across North America and Europe with the likes of METZTy SegallDeath From AboveDilly DallyDish Pit and more.

“Trillium Song” presents another agile take from Good Time, drawing once again on striking melodies and a wiry new wave sound palette, this time utilizing a two-pronged vocal foray with both Melissa Ball and Chris Swimmings lending their voices. Whereas previous releases from the group have suggested a more abrasive post-punk approach, Good Time demonstrates a pop-leaning slant on the sound of Teenanger without removing their ear for social commentary.

Speaking about the new track, Swimmings says: “This song is about the province of Ontario where we all reside. Mainly about the current provincial government’s way of dealing with the education system and the environment. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Doug Ford (the song’s primary subject) was making good headway at polishing his public image by being hands-on. He made promises of people not losing their jobs and tenants not being evicted. They were timely promises in the beginning as we are now seeing many tenants in Ontario face eviction due to not being able to make end’s meet in the pandemic.”

——

Good Time arrives off the back of a turbulent few years for the group, a period filled with self-reflection, a restless search for creativity and more than anything, a need to rewire the very essence of the band. The four-piece had tied up the rinse and repeat promotional run for their 2017 self-titled record in the spring of 2018; their fifth album, which had started to find them some acclaim, also marked their first decade together as a group, quite an achievement by anyone’s measures in the current climate. The line-up was unchanged since Teenanger’s inception, and the members had become somewhat inseparable over their time together; whilst the album release and the corresponding tour was somewhat celebratory, it also brought with it a severe bout of writer’s block that unexpectedly placed their existence in jeopardy.

A testament to the rigorous DIY ethos of Teenanger that forges its core values, the band was rooted in the same rehearsal room that they had used since their early days together – a revolving door of local acts shared the space and it took fracturing this routine to find inspiration for Good Time. One Craigslist advertisement offered an apartment for rent with the words: “Music OK”, Teenanger seized the opportunity and thus “Studio Z” was coined, a basement flat that previously worked as a reggae studio/after-hours club was converted by the four-piece into a live practice room and adjacent fully-functional recording studio. The band went on to battle two major floods, a CO2 leak, vermin infestation and constant mould to record the new album.

Good Time is out on October 2nd on Telephone Explosion. It is available for pre-order here.

Keep your mind open.

[Now is a good time to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Tom at Hive Mind PR.]