The Teenagers

Reality Check

November 26, 2008

*** / ****

By Mr. Marlowe

Released 2008

Listening to French indie-rock band The Teenagers debut album, Reality Check is an odd experience. With dreamy melodies, odd sing-speak verses, and danceable drum and synth beats the album is almost everything one could hope for in this type of juvenile obsessed, off-the-beaten-track new wave redux. Clever and mildly offensive lyrics go hand in hand with pop culture winks and nudges while a manly French accented Flight of the Concords wannabe sprinkles a few absurdities here and there. It’s perfect, really, for what it is and what it wants to be.

On the other hand, Reality Check is top to bottom repetitive and much too caught up in its own too-cool-for-you aesthetic to be really good. The music is too refined, with jangly guitars, steady electronic drums and synthesizers pulsing endlessly over the album’s twelve tracks without a hint of explosive grandiosity or grab-you-by-the-collar power. But then maybe that’s the point. Or maybe The Teenagers are too frightened to go for broke even on one track less they tarnish their perfectly manicured image.

Whatever the case, the new wave daydream effect of Reality Check does the trick, setting a sublimely danceable atmosphere that is a strange conglomeration of The Smiths meets New Order for a 21^st century fan base. And even if it never soars beyond its particular niche as The Smiths and New Order were always capable of doing, it is a fun record that is as easy on the ears as it is simple and polished.

Best Songs: Starlett Johansson, Feeling Better, French Kiss, Sunset Beach, Love No