Album Review: You're My Lover Now

Philadelphia area band The Teeth just put out full length You're My Lover Now, in which they tried to capture their "fierce" live energy as well as their more often laid back recording style. It's been two years since their EP Carry the Wood, which was the first I'd heard of them, and a while longer since their last full-length. They are currently signed with record label Park the Van.

The Teeth play rock and roll. While indie's typical instrumentation is including more and more synth these days, the Teeth play grainy, piercing lead guitar and chopping rhythm. Its refreshing to see guys committed to the aesthetic of guitars(2)/bass/drums, with occasional keyboard, who play new-sounding stuff. Well, not entirely new.

Reviewers have compared their music to Queen, Bowie, early Kinks, Pavement, the Muppets, as well as movies Punch Drunk Love, Rocky Horror Picture Show and a Clockwork Orange. A review in Rockpile (?) said to "think Pavement and the Kinks penning sea shanties," of Carry the Wood. But remember, these shanties are not like the gentle Colin Malloy's, which try to scare you with big words and violence. The first half of "Mercy Mercy Pudding Pie" scares you just listening to it.

The new album has songs which compare to some of these bands in a much less convoluted way. The most accessible, bopping song on the album, "Ball of the Dead Rat," sounds quite literally like "Let it Be"-era Beatles. One of the best songs on the album, "Coolest Kid in School," sounds like it came right off of "Village Green Preservation Society." Most, however, are a dramatic stripping and mangling of sixties rock with the scary folk (complete with the copper-colored plinking and plunking of old pianos) from the soundtracks of old horror movies thrown into the mix.

Some of their songs sound much better live than on the album and vice versa. Track "Coolest Kid in School" has a steady swinging pace and acoustic instrumentation. Live, however, Aaron and Brian never put down their electric guitars unless there is a keyboard part in the song. I feel like this is a band who performs in front of crowds that, for the most part, don't own their albums and know them back to front like I do. I love these songs live, but I'm not sure that the average listener gets as much out of it.


For the most part, their songs sound great across formats. Their acoustic renditions of faster songs found on their dvd Bones Grow are fantastic, and both Carry the Wood and You're My Lover Now include two versions of the same song, one slow and acoustic, the other electric and raw. They're very comfortable varying the format of any particular song, but not varying the gear they use on any given night. They play the slower songs slow and quiet live like the album and even the middle paced songs like "Coolest Kid" and the jangly opener "Molly Make Him Pay" are played at the appropriate pace, but the instrumentation on these incredible songs feels off. I think that if Aaron picked up an acoustic guitar for these mid-paced songs it would really draw in the crowd, clue them into a change in aesthetic, and create some better flow to their sets, which leads me to the last area for potential negative criticism. The Teeth have not created a cohesive album as a whole, but rather a collection of songs with a similar feel. This disjointed quality could throw some people off, but I've never minded that in an album. I have no problem appreciating an album song by song.

Regardless, I'd say they certainly succeeded at giving the listener a much better idea of what its like to see them live. According to drummer Jonas, this was one of the big things they were really trying to achieve. With this in mind, they bring the second and third tracks "Trumpets Blared" and "Shoulderblade" up tempo and just walk all over you. Even having recorded again almost entirely by themselves, they sound much more professional than they did on Carry the Wood. Unfortunately, the vocals are a bit thin and flat on fast songs like "Your feelings on Life," but its not too much to complain about. On the whole, solid recording.

The title track is perhaps my favorite, as frantic before and after sections surround an explosive and passionate midsection with Beatles-esque harmonies answered by Peter's central high vocals and multiple series of launching chord changes.

Overall, this is a great album by a awesome group of guys. Never turn down a chance to see them perform.