Album Review – Your Cuckoo – Teenage Waitress

Pop Music…..seems to be a dirty word at the moment… We all love pop music don’t we though?  It’s still selling in its droves and throwing up some amazing music, however the in your face blatant merry-go-round of manufactured Pop Artists from TV shows n Tik Tok n You Tube is a bit too much to take at times.  Me included…

Where are the characters? Where are the interesting artists the ones making great pop music like we had before?  Well they are there you’ve just gotta work a bit harder to find them.

Luckily for us, re-entering the fray just 2.5 years after his/there astonishingly good debut album Love & Chemicals – see my review of that here

https://therebirthofcool.news.blog/2020/11/16/love-and-chemicals-teenage-waitress-album-review/

Teenage Waitress are back and this new album Your Cuckoo not You’re Cuckoo as I originally thought, is ready and waiting to be heard.

Whilst the debut album was often a wry look at what was going on in people’s lives from the view of main man/songwriter Dan Ash, your cuckoo takes a mostly more personal route and delves into Dan’s own life and growing up on the South coast.  However he is still an ace people watcher and uses this to great effect to weave pop magic into brilliantly crafted songs.

Kicking off the album with a flourish Baby Blue is just a fantastic homage to Marvin Gaye you could find, for those of us following TW these last few years you will know they released an interim cover single Pretty Little Baby by Marvin, setting the scene for what was to come, this expands on that idea and some…it’s a wonderful way to open an album.

Quickly following this is the quirky punk of Maggie, part Blur but also a lovely nod to Dan’s pals, the brilliant Shoes on Now.

Then we are into the main part of the album. The Abba-esque banger that is Grey Skies, a pop song so great that even the Louie’s and Harry’s of this world would love it. Easily one of the singles of the year. I love the final line of the song “Don’t flirt with the abyss, You’re still top of my list, Baby, you’ve got this”.

Girl, I want you to kill me starts like With or Without you, but that’s where the U2 comparisons end, it’s more a Macca type love song about wanting to be killed by your partner, I assume with Love. Wonderful stuff.

Bedroom Waltz is I feel quite a personal song about being an introvert and spending a lot of time in your bedroom, dreaming of pop stardom I assume. At this point I will credit another brilliant songwriter Andy Johnson who commented that the album reminded him of Squeeze and he’s spot on. Dan’s vocals have that Glen Tilbrook feel to it and certainly they are both excellent at writing songs from a narrative point of view. It’s high praise and well deserved.

I like the way you fall in love is the centrepiece of the album and my favourite track so far. It encapsulates everything TW is about and shows off the talents of everyone involved with ease. “Away from the seedy bars I like the way you fall in love.”

Overall the album is more than an equal to the debut and with songs as great as Big Smoke, To much of a good thing, there is plenty to enjoy and smile about in the sunshine.

Recent single Back Seat is a huge treat, written about driving round Dan’s local area as a youth in an old Fiat Punto is fantastic, singing about Smoking cigarettes, texting girls and playing CDs, whilst hanging in car parks. The type of song that Blur have made a career out of, however it has a much closer lyrical feel to the best songs by Paul Weller, about the humdrum life of growing up. Superb in short.

Salutations ends the album in much the same way it started, it’s just a joyous uplifting track with a brilliant choir/gospel backing which shows the way for a bright future. Its just so positive.

Overall the feeling you get is that Dan is one of our finest “new” songwriter’s along with labelmate Sunzoom, Welsh Wizard Blokeacola and the aforementioned Andy Johnson they are forging new pop paths that I’m hopeful reach the kind of audience they all deserve.

Thus play this album loud in your car whilst you drive around looking for a space in an IKEA car park and marvel at it’s pop majesty.

Final note to also comment on the wonderful sleeve art by the supremely talented Seasick Sailor.

Your Cuckoo is out now via Colorama records either to stream or on the recommended lovely green vinyl…..

Teenage Waitress 'Your Cuckoo' Vinyl LP – Green

Please let me know what you think of the album and share share share.

PNL

Michael