Dear Scotland

Leaving behind the booming jangle pop on which Teenage Fanclub’s fanbase was built, Shadows has much more in common with 1997’s beautiful Songs from Northern Britain than, say, the much-loved and more raucous Bandwagonesque. Embracing a “soft pop” aesthetic, Shadows succeeds in the way other “mature” pop artists (like the Go-Betweens, or Nick Lowe) do, with exceptional songwriting and an honest creative voice willing to ascribe to a less-is-more credo. “Sometimes I Don’t Need to Believe in Anything” sets the tone, with guitars murmuring under soothing vocals, and a faint, tinkling piano and harmonica-like tones merging into a steadily building drum pattern. Liveliness underlies the tranquility, and that’s true of the album as a whole. Pianos and strings prevail, steel guitars sigh, songs billow with open spaces and a kind of romanticism. Classic TF harmonies thrill on “Baby Lee” and “When I Still Have Thee,” and the serenely lovely “Sweet Days of Waiting” and “Dark Clouds” are true sweet spots. Their moniker captures an impassioned ideal, one we’re grateful these wizened Scots continue to pursue.