When I heard that Teenage Wrist had parted ways with their previous singer and bassist, Kamtin Mohager, I was concerned that the band would lose the magic they had on their first LP & their "Counting Flies" EP from 2019.
But the reality is that Marshall Gallagher is an excellent singer of his own merit, and in songs like "Silverspoon" and "Yellowbelly", he combines grungy undertones with soft, almost ethereal, breaths of fresh air to a saturated genre. Unlike other participants in shoegaze's recent hijack from other Pop Punk acts, like Fireworks and Turnover, Teenage Wrist were essentially born into the shoegaze mold, with a nostalgia-driven emphasis behind everything their debut Chrome Neon Jesus was.
This sophomore release lacks that same trip down memory lane, but it still affected me in ways that were pretty hypnotic. For one, the "gazyness" needed to keep carrying the "genre" mantle is still here, albeit turned down to a volume 2 comparatively. It's mostly stripped, but the singles released painted an accurate picture of how the mood of the rest of the album would culminate.
It would remain dreamlike, but the good news is that it's mostly time to wake up, and their maturity shows them heading in a great direction.
80/100
Track Listing:
Squeeze (Intro)
Taste of Gasoline
New Emotion
Yellowbelly
Silverspoon
Wear U Down
High Again
Wasting Time
Earth is a Black Hp;e
Stella
2/12/21
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