Justin Tam
Staff Writer
Consistently excellent Portland garage-rockers the Thermals have been a mainstay of the Pacific Coast indie rock scene since their inception seven years ago.“Personal Life,” their fifth and most recent release, is a shift away from the frenetic energy and politically-charged anthems of prior works, producing more personal, complex, and introspective songs on the new record.
The Thermals have proven to be one of the most successful acts out of Portland with the release of their critically-acclaimed 2006 LP, “The Body, The Blood, The Machine,” a noisy criticism of the rise of evangelical America and the Bush administration. As recently as last year, the band released the exceptional, “Now We Can See,” a peppier record reveling in post-Bush euphoria while viewing the new administration tentatively from the eyes of the deceased. Both records were instilled with front-man Hutch Harris’s ever-catchy hooks and the brash attitude that characterized their sound.
“Personal Life” strikes as an odd record because there seem to be two completely different styles in it, almost as if the band had been planning to release a double EP of sorts. Though the album has its fair share of crisp, power-pop anthems, it is also rife with slow, lingering ballads and confessionals.
The frenzied, insanely catchy lead single, “I Don’t Believe You,” offers a promising glimmer of greatness in comparison to the other tracks on the album. It is an up-tempo, distortion-heavy track that delivers danceable pop-punk in familiar Thermals fashion. The classic Thermals blueprint of engaging choruses and grinding guitars shines through in tracks like “Power Lies” and “Your Love Is So Strong.”
However, where it’s sometimes aching and uncharacteristically subtle tracks are concerned, “Personal Life” greatly disappoints. Though the hooks and creativity are still present in abundance, Harris loses some of his edge on this record. Tracks like “A Reflection” and “Alone, a Fool” tempt, slowly building and layering rhythmic elements, but ultimately linger too long and fail to deliver.
The subject matter of the record comes into question as well, being primarily about the muddy, sticky subject of lust and love rather than angry, high-minded politics and existential crises as in previous records. With garage rock being so bare and frill-less a genre, usually it’s the lyrical content that differentiates one band from another and the Thermals’ “Personal Life” may be a step in the wrong direction. For fans of their work, this is not a classic Thermals album by the conventions laid down by previous albums.
“Personal Life” isn’t as successful an album as previous records because of a classic case of a band straying away from their strengths and muddying their simplicity with complicated, introspective tracks. Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie may be at least partially to blame for this, as he produced the album.
Fortunately, in at least half of the record, the Thermals do play to their strengths to fantastic effect. The energy, the catchy hooks, the charming choruses are all there and it’s difficult not to focus on them when listening to this album. It’s nowhere near as good as the aforementioned albums, but it’s still essential Thermals and should be considered by fans and new audiences alike.
“Personal Life” is available on iTunes for $9.99 and at most music retailers everywhere.
This is a truly great review, Tam.