Teen
Body
Dreamo
(Broken Circles)
The first time I heard Teen Body was a couple of months
ago. It was a warm, yet overcast Saturday
morning. I was going for a walk in a
quiet neighborhood, enjoying the DKFM
live stream. I often go for a long walk
on Saturday mornings and finish at the grocery store so I can stock up on
necessities. Generally, I take the
earbuds out and put the phone away, but on this day, I kept the music playing. A bunch of really good songs played by bands
I was unfamiliar with. One of them
turned out to be Teen Body and the debut single, “Validation,” from their
second LP Dreamo. The reason I am telling this dry story is
that while doing my usual shopping – wandering aimlessly with a broken shopping
cart filled with five or six unrelated items, I was finding it difficult to
focus on the music. Clearly, I am too
single-minded to perform more than one task at a time. Despite this, the chorus to “Validation” with
that boinging bassline and four part rhyme scheme became permanently wedged into
my consciousness. I had to find out who
that was. It reminded me of the much
missed Veronica Falls, with
similarly great vocals and intertwining guitar lines.
Now that I know who created this
wonderful song that I have listened to a few hundred times, I am in possession
of the full album, and it surpasses my expectations. Teen Body (a creepy band name if there ever
was one) not only capture some of the essence that made Veronica Falls so appealing,
but they also exude the exuberance and pop sensibilities of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and
the taught tunefulness of 90s era Teen
Beat Records greats like Unrest/AirMiami,
and True Love Always.
The lyrics bear a hazy dream-like
quality, yet there is an urgency to them.
They are little puzzles that contain lot of emotions and deep-seated
fears deeply tied to these surreal scenarios.
The title track “Dreamo” is not about sleep and dreams though, it’s more
about those long restless or sleepless nights where we find ourselves desperate
for relief. It’s a plea to get some
sleep. To rest one’s mind. Similarly, the opening, “Fell Off,” dwells on
one’s own mistakes and the ensuing regrets of poor decisions. I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent many
nights (just in the last few weeks, ruminating over my own mistakes, and/or
things I should’ve said or done in the moment (“Neverending nights / heavy,
cold and bright / little wrong / who couldn’t make it right”). This catchy song is for those moments. “Act yr Age” represents the conflicted
emotions of being drawn to someone that you may know going in is bad for
you. The lazy plucking strum of the “Ballad
of Tomboy Jerry” is the perfect accompaniment for the timidity of the words
within, while the narrator in “The Draag” wants to run away from previous
mistruths. The
aforementioned “Validation” is loaded with self-doubt – something that can keep
one up at night (“Got nothing to show / it’s all circling back to what’s not
there / leave me alone / is all I can account for”). It isn’t till the album closing “Other Places
Pt. 2” that we are finally allowed to drift off to the land of dreams (“you’re
still somewhere very distant”) and it is quite satisfying.
I have a feeling that I am going to love
this album for years to come. The
addictive quality of their music and the breezy vocal harmonies that bring
these songs to life, but it’s the understanding words that make it timeless.
Teen Body "Dreamo"
love this
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