TEEN - Love Yes

TEEN
Love Yes
2016
Spotify

A real balance needs to be maintained when working with sounds from an era gone by. A synthesizer can evoke the 80s while still keeping a foot grounded in what is now. The flip side of this is that same sound can be so derivative of the older sound that it forgets to keep something from the modern times. It is with this that we arrive and the new album from TEEN Love Yes. The major problem with this record is that it relies so heavy on not only the sounds of the 80s, but also the themes and cadences that nothing feels new. Put this record in 1986 and you have a very different and quite possible more positive reaction. However it is 2016 and the totally thin sounding synth by itself just doesn't work all that well. The songs also have so much going on that there is little room for anything else. Even when things spread out a bit like on "Gone For Good" you still get that closed in sense like everything is swirling around you at a very high pace. The interesting thing however is that despite the somewhat annoying sound the arrangement and construction of these tracks is quite incredible. There is not one hair out of place or one more note than necessary which makes for a fascinating listener experience.

Songs like "Another Man's Woman" have this huge potential for something really great, but the adherence to the synth really handicaps it. You want that more well rounded sound to drop in at some point but you never get it. Lyrically the album soars, and the songs are incredibly well put together, but it all falls down on the actual sound of the music. It is missing something, and not just now and then but for the whole record. The inclusion of these saxophone outros is also an odd choice that really doesn't seem to fit. "Please" which is a song about a conversation with the late composer Peter Lieberson (three of the members of the band are his daughters) is the most heartfelt and real track on the record. This track unlike the others feels the most raw, the most organic and it is highly successful because of it. While it may not be your new favorite record there are some things to like on Love Yes. So if you find yourself dying for some pure 80s synth-pop, look no further.

6.3 out of 10