Virgin Records; July 2007
Teenagers: delusional Lilliputians constrained by immaturity and fascinated with the adulthood promise of freedom and opportunity, and, now, the subject of an 11-track concept album by Irish indie pop rockers, The Thrills. Here, the band artfully poses images of forlorn love amidst a stage of self-absorbency, wanderlust, insecurity, and conformity. Teenager is a not-dark-but-dimmed, lyrically significant trip down memory lane that reminds usthrough tracks like “The Midnight Choir” and “The Boy Who Caught All the Breaks”that there still reigns a stubborn and naive child inside all of us. The band taps into pubescent overconfidence in its narcissistically artless approach to melody and appearance. Still, The Thrills bring an instrumental knack, with compositions featuring mandolin, banjo, and lyrics that move beyond ego-stunted adolescence towards fond recitation. They paint a picture of teenage life the way we want to see it: full of potential, without concept of the future.