Teenage Wrist "Still Love" Review
Three for three.
There is something utterly profound about Still Love. Following 2018’s breakthrough Chrome Neon Jesus and its successor, the immaculate Earth is a Black Hole, it should come as no surprise that Teenage Wrist are capable of creating a remarkable record. The group has served as the primary influence for a wave of young bands in their short tenure, and for good reason. Their trademark amalgamation of shoegaze, grunge, and emo was something truly new when it arrived, and they have diligently honed their craft and consistently evolved their sound - the results of which are glaringly apparent on the Los Angeles band’s third full-length Still Love.
The record opens up with three of the loudest songs Teenage Wrist have released to date. Album opener “Sunshine” feels monumental, with crushing guitars and a colossal chorus that expertly evokes excitement and a feeling of timelessness. “Dark Sky” immediately follows, a layered and urgent grunge behemoth, complete with a feature from SA Martinez of 311 and a truly nasty breakdown to end the song. This leads directly into the title track - one of many album highlights and a contestant for best single the band has ever released. The use of baritone guitars provides a low end previously unexplored by Teenage Wrist, and the wall of sound that kicks this song off is awe-inspiring. The track “Still Love” is a collaboration with Softcult, and the call-and-response vocals throughout feel completely natural - like the two groups have been writing together for years. After a beautifully haunting bridge led by Softcult’s Mercedes Arn-Horn, the song puts forth a mammoth outro with distorted guitar layered with eerie spoken word and Arn-Horn belting out some jaw-dropping notes like they’re nothing. “Digital Self” shows the band easing up on the heaviness slightly, but without sacrificing any of the urgency that oozed from the previous songs. The more subdued verses allow this chorus to absolutely take flight, and the brief guitar solo in the bridge feels triumphant as a result.
“Something Good” is where Still Love really starts to show its hand. It’s at this point where the newfound lyrical vulnerability on display in the tracklisting starts to take center stage. A cathartic ballad if there ever was one, the track is introduced by an acoustic guitar drenched in effects and a monster of a lead guitar riff. The hook in this song is nothing short of outstanding, matched with pleading lyrics and a powerful vocal performance. “Wax Poetic” follows - a mid-tempo groove-driven track that starts small and builds into a fuzzed-out dynamic beast with a hypnotic guest feature from Sister Void. After the song culminates in near-deafening loudness, “Diorama” offers a brief moment of reprieve. A simple acoustic number rounded out by percussive samples and piano, it is yet another rare delicate moment on a Teenage Wrist record.
Teenage Wrist use this moment of quiet to transition the tracklist again, this time to darker territory with the brooding “Cold Case” and explosive “Cigarette Two-Step”. These two songs show the band exploring heavier sounds than they have previously (save for sections on 2019’s Counting Flies EP), with the latter having moments that sound like something out of an early Deftones record. Original vocalist Kamtin Mohager returns for the blistering “Humbug”, and the reunion feels truly organic and fresh as the two vocalists trade verses and harmonize effortlessly in the choruses.
Teenage Wrist wrap up Still Love with the one-two punch of “Sprawled” and “Paloma a.k.a. Ketamine”. “Sprawled” feels more like the record’s proper closer, with massive guitars and a linear song structure that meanders and never fails to provide the unexpected. Around the two minute mark, the song takes off into potentially the best vocal hook on the record, never to return to it. Instead, “Sprawled” quickly collapses in on itself and rebuilds with the help of a saxophone, resulting in the most cinematic crescendo in the band’s discography. The sheer emotion permeating this track is astounding, and sets the stage perfectly for the sparse and painful “Paloma a.k.a. Ketamine” to serve as the album’s candid epilogue.
With Still Love, Teenage Wrist have once again captured lightning in a bottle. Doubling down on what worked in the past and pushing forward into several new directions at the same time, the band has created a record that is ambitious and exciting, but also one that feels familiar in all of the best ways. This record feels like Teenage Wrist declaring that they’re here to stay, and if this record is any indicator, they will not be slowing down any time soon.
9/10
