First, a confession – I am not an expert on TeenageFanclub. I loved ‘Bandwagonesque’ and ‘Grand Prix’, but ‘Songs from Northern Britain’ underwhelmed me, and since then I have simply not bothered to find out what they were doing. I know they released a best of that included “three new tracks!!!’ which is always a worrying sign. I approached this album with a good deal of scepticism. My first listen confirmed my doubts. The production on ‘Shadows’ is best described as “timid gloss”. It is not shiny enough to have chart appeal, camp or otherwise, and the hooks are buried. It is almost as though Teenage Fanclub were embarrassed about having written catchy parts. If a keyboard riff plays the melody, like on Into The City, it is so low as to be almost indistinguishable. The same happens with a hand-claps and synth on The Past. It reminds me of the less-good Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci records.
I kept on listening…my opinion softened. This is by no means a bad record. With Baby Lee, the albums second track, Teenage Fanclub proves they can still write a good up-tempo song when they try. As for the rest of the tunes, the lyrics are intelligent, and whilst the delivery is smooth and inoffensive it has a certain feel – like a cool summer evening – that can be enjoyable in the right setting.
‘Shadows’ is not for me, but it has many strengths: smart lyrics, good playing and thoughtful harmonies and hooks. But I can’t really think of anything this album gives the listener that you couldn’t get elsewhere, either from their earlier records or from another band. If we have to have inoffensive pop music then I would like it to be Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Shadows’, rather than some of the wretched crap we mostly are succumbed to.
Finally, one word keeps coming back when I listen to ‘Shadows’: mature. Mature as in settled down and calm...but also boring.