Teenage Fanclub have announced new album ‘Do Not Dare To Dream’. Check out the laid-back single ‘Day In The Sun’
The new record marks the 13th from the indie giants, and the first from them since 2023’s ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. It is set for release on October 9th via Merge Records, Arriving decades on from their formation in 1989, the new album sees the band work to push their style of melodic guitars, eye-catching harmonies, and introspective song writing into new directions.
As well as announcing the LP, the band have also dropped a taster in the form of new single ‘Day In The Sun’ – a relaxed track that centres on themes of renewal and embracing a new outlook.
For the album as a whole, Teenage Fanclub explores how hollow optimism feels “ridiculous”, and retaliates against empty words of encouragement.
“Those ‘dare to dream’ sentiments are kind of ridiculous,” singer Norman Blake said, “I don’t think the world works that way.” “We can still be cheerful and optimistic in the face of things not being great,” added Raymond McGinley.
The album sees them joined by longtime members Euros Childs, Francis Macdonald and David McGowan, and was written as the musicians all embraced being in the studio together, without obsessively perfecting arrangements ahead of time.
“I think what happens is you just move from one thing into the next and before you know it, 30 years have passed,” Blake shared.
McGinley added: “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.”
if any such further proof were needed, ‘Be With You Tonight’ shows that Norman Blake still has a damn good ear for a melody. The third single to be taken from Teenage Fanclub’s next album – “Do Not Dare To Dream“, out 9th October on Merge Records – the band’s co-founder is doing very well indeed, thank you, and this is reflected in his songwriting.
As Blake himself tells us, “I’m in a good place in terms of happiness and wellbeing, and my songs on this album are really just a reflection of that. I’ve found that the easiest thing to write about is yourself. It can be quite cathartic. It’s sort of like doing your own therapy.”
37 years down the line and despite all the vicissitudes that life has thrown at them, Teenage Fanclub are still bringing us sunshine, still continuing to light up our lives.
As well as releasing new music, the indie band are heading out on tour later this year,
