Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Teen Suicide-I Will Be My Own Hell... LP (2012)

The sentence-long title and appropriately washed out Polaroid cover art are a dead give away that Teen Suicide is moving past the ramalama Ramonesisms of the Goblin Problem EP on their first full length.

Sho' 'nuff, the ten songs run the gamut between ambient noodlings ("Anne") and contorted stabs at post-rock ("Dead Bird Skeleton"). Even the songs that most clearly hearken back to "Teen Goblin" ("Dan Collins vs....", "Dead Bird Skeleton") slow the pace down and grind on a mid-tempo beat.

"Cop Graveyard" oes in for an infectious synth-and-kick drum minimalism, paired with whispered vocals, that makes it the best track here. One could easily pass out in a pool of one's own vomit while playing it as a night capper. "Swallow," the closer, echoes "I wanna be a witch," from the Goblin Problems EP: tender acoustic guitar and mumble-mouthed vocals make it the sort of thing all you young'uns could put on a mixtape for yr favorite girl/boy/whatever before asking 'em out.

To conclude, the LP finds Teen Suicide branching out, with mixed results. I could do without some of the emoisms ("Give me back to the sky" in particular is awkward), and most of the synthesizer-based tracks feel like rough sketches, not fully-developed songs. In general, it feels like a collection of songs more than a unitary album. Nevertheless, "I Will Be..." shows Teen Suicide's ambition, and I'm curious to hear what they dish out next.

Listen to, download, and buy the LP here.

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