OK, so maybe The Thrills' Southside-by-way-of-California accents don't evoke images of hardship, stress and poverty – remember kids, It's Always Sunny In Foxrock - but if there's one oppressive emotion that the twentysomething quintet can sympathise with, it's pressure. Having breezed onto the airwaves in 2003 with their critically-lauded slice of uplifting, sunshine-imbued pop (also known as their debut album So Much For the City), it would seem that the watery-voiced, rosy-cheeked Conor Deasy and cohorts could do no wrong. It must have come as some shock, then, when 2005's follow-up 'Let's Bottle Bohemia' flopped tepidly into the bargain bins, apart from lead single 'Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?'. Now back with a third offering, it would seem that Teenager is very much a make-or-break album for The Thrills. They've enlisted Tony Hoffer on production duties once again in a bid to recapture the magic that made them so in-demand in the first place, yet the result of their combined efforts, however earnest and occasionally gratifying they may be, are never excitable. The majority of Deasy's lyrics centre around matters of the heart; unrequited love (I Came All This Way), romantic misendeavours (Restaurants) and regret (Famous fan Morrissey is acknowledged with I'm So Sorry and Should've Known Better, with its 'I didn't live my youth with sufficient recklessness' refrain almost straight from The Smiths man's handbook.) Musically, The Thrills stick to what the know best, which is hummable banjo, guitar and harmonica-laden Byrds-style pop, many of which fail to ignite (notable exceptions being opening track The Midnight Choir, the oomph-injecting Long Forgotten Song and the sadly shimmering, moody title track), while Deasy's voice is more wistfully raspyirritating than ever before. How can someone possible elongate a one syllable word into four, anyway? When all is said and done, Teenager comes across as an album that desperately wants to be a grown-up, but is ultimately let down by its adolescent imperfections. Nice cover art, though.
