Teenage Fanclub have announced their new album, Do Not Dare To Dream, out 9th October via Merge Records, and shared its lead single, Day In The Sun, with a video by Donald Milne filmed at Black Bay Studio on Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides.
The album is the band’s thirteenth and follows the melancholic warmth of 2023’s Nothing Lasts Forever, whose lingering understated vibe makes Day In The Sun all the brighter. Those lush multi-part harmonies, 60s jangle, rich acoustic textures, and organ are still there in abundance alongside some really nice flourishes — that really subtle vox wah in the back and that harp opening, all accentuate that Californian psych glow, presenting a playful sparkling optimism that leans towards The Byrds.
Talking about the album title, Norman Blake shared: “It’s difficult when it comes to… coming up with a name for an album. Especially after you’ve made twelve of them”. The title comes from his own wryly named I Do Not Dare To Dream, which pushes back on hollow optimism while holding on to a quieter hope. “Those ‘dare to dream’ sentiments are kind of ridiculous,” Blake explains, “I don’t think the world works that way.” Raymond McGinley puts it another way: “We can still be cheerful and optimistic in the face of things not being great.”
Great Bernera is the most remote place the band have recorded, and being surrounded by crashing sea and ancient ruins focused them. They worked the studio’s Domus church organ hard — it’s prominent on Over And Over among others — alongside a spread of synthesizers. Blake and McGinley no longer fuss over arrangements before they arrive; with Euros Childs, Francis Macdonald and David McGowan they wait for the rest of the group’s input.
“I think what happens is you just move from one thing into the next and before you know it, 30 years have passed,” says Blake. McGinley adds: “Yeah, it’s been a while since we started doing this thing we do, but to us it feels like no time at all. In the place where we made the record people would have been singing thousands of years ago. Life is short, but music is eternal.”
Tour Dates
Teenage Fanclub tour internationally from September through November. UK and Ireland dates:
Tuesday 3 November — Cambridge — Junction
Wednesday 4 November — Bristol — Trinity
Thursday 5 November — Brighton — Concorde 2
Friday 6 November — London — Hackney Church (sold out)
Saturday 7 November — Manchester — New Century Hall
Monday 9 November — Leeds — Project House
Tuesday 10 November — Newcastle — Boiler Shop
Wednesday 11 November — Aberdeen — Lemon Tree
Friday 13 November — Glasgow — Saint Luke’s (sold out)
Saturday 14 November — Glasgow — Saint Luke’s (sold out)
Sunday 15 November — Edinburgh — La Belle Angele (sold out)
Monday 16 November — Belfast — Empire Music Hall
Tuesday 17 November — Dublin — Academy
Thursday 19 November — Cardiff — Y Plas
Friday 20 November — Birmingham — The Crossing
Saturday 21 November — Glasgow — SWG3 Warehouse
Do Not Dare To Dream (9th October) Merge Records – pre-order here.