Ears like Golden Bats produce sounds like golden honey. There’s an uncomplicated beauty to this album which really gives me a warm, happy feeling inside.  Occasionally some of the songs can be a little too even to be quite catchy enough, but in general this is a superb album.

The benefit of the 80s revivial, apart from the angular New Wave resurrection and the comedy dance floor cheese, has been the re-interpretation of the late 80s jangly indie guitar music we’re starting to hear more and more of.

I draw the line at anyone trying to resurrect Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (90s really), but when your tunes are steeped in the kind of stuff the black-clad, misunderstood outsiders loved in 1987 then you are barking very directly up my tree. The guitar, vocal and low-key Moog-a-like backing of My Teenage Stride remind me of the classic indie bands of this era like The Smiths and The Cure and it’s excellent to see people poking around in this particular box of tricks again.

Where it differs from these groups is in having a generally more laid-back atmosphere – it’s generally less angsty than The Cure and less miserable that The Smiths. People who were actually in the country and not being forced to listen to David feckin Hasselhoff in Vienna when this stuff was first popular will be able to give you far better comparisons than I can, but it is definitely of a piece with the jangle-pop guitar bands of this era. I’ve been more than a little bit slow on the uptake with these characters, but I’m glad I got there at last.

My Teenage Stride – To Live & Die in the Airport Lounge
My Teenage Stride – The Genie of New Jersey

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