Teenage Fanclub have announced the release of a new album, Nothing Last Forever on September 22nd. The album, their thirteenth in total, will be released by their own label PeMa in the UK and Europe, and Merge in the US.
The first track to be released from the album is album opener ‘Foreign Land.’ The video, which may be streamed below, was shot by long-time collaborator Donald Milne.
Speaking about the video, singer and guitarist Norman Blake explained: ‘The song is about moving forward, not dwelling on the past. We shot the video in Hamilton Mausoleum, near Glasgow. Given that the album is called Nothing Lasts Forever we thought it would be appropriate to shoot a video inside a tomb.’
One of the recurring themes on the album is light, as a both a metaphor for hope and as an ultimate destination further down the road. Although the band’s songwriters Blake and singer-guitarist Raymond McGinley found themselves touching on similar themes, it was pure coincidence.
McGinley explains: ‘We never talk about what we’re going to do before we start making a record. We don’t plan much other than the nuts and bolts of where we’re going to record and when. That thing about light was completely accidental; we didn’t realise that until we’d finished half the songs. The record feels reflective, and I think the more we do this thing, the more we become comfortable with going to that place of melancholy, feeling and expressing those feelings.’
Blake adds: ‘These songs are definitely personal. You’re getting older, you’re going into the cupboard getting the black suit out more often. Thoughts of mortality and the idea of the light must have been playing on our minds a lot. The songs on the last record were influenced by the breakup of my marriage. It was cathartic to write those songs. These new songs are reflective of how I’m feeling now, coming out of that period. They’re fairly optimistic, there’s an acceptance of a situation and all of the experience that comes with that acceptance. When we write, it’s a reflection of our lives, which are pretty ordinary. We’re not extraordinary people, and normal people get older. There’s a lot to write about in the mundane. I love reading Raymond Carver. Very often there’s not a lot that happens in those stories, but they speak to lived experience.’
The tour dates are as follows:
NOVEMBER
3 – Queen’s University Mandela Hall, Belfast
5 – Tramway Theatre, Glasgow
6 – Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen
7 – Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
8 – Brudenell, Leeds
9 – Sage Hall 2, Gateshead
11 – RNCM Theatre, Manchester
12 – Leadmill, Sheffield
13 – Komedia, Bath
14 – Town Hall, Birmingham
17 – EartH, London
18 – EartH, London
Support will be from Sweet Baboo.
The tracklisting for Nothing Lasts Forever is as follows:
1. Foreign Land
2. Tired Of Being Alone
3. I Left A Light On
4. See The Light
5. It’s Alright
6. Falling Into The Sun
7. Self-Sedation
8. Middle Of My Mind
9. Back To The Light
10. I Will Love You
Photo Credit: Donald Milne
