Teenage Fanclub

Endless Arcade

More jingle-jangle mourning from depleted Glasgow vets.

Teenage Fanclub have been polishing their harmoniously jangling folk-rock formula for so long now that they are in danger of rubbing the surface down to a blandly frictionless sheen.

This, the veteran Glaswegian combo’s tenth album, is their first since the amicable departure of co-founder Gerard Love, reducing their core songwriting team from three to two. Which might explain why Endless Arcade lacks a little in variety and texture. On the plus side, former Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci frontman Euros Childs is now on board as fulltime keyboard player, lending some pleasingly discordant psych-pop trimmings to the title track, among others. Suffused with soul-weary nostalgia, Raymond McGinley’s autumnal waltz-time ruminations are the stand-outs here, opening the album with the gorgeously luminous ballad The Sun Won’t Shine On Me and ending with the drowsy lament Silent Song.

Teenage Fanclub are national treasures with a well-honed formula, but they need just a little more musical and emotional grit to avoid fully surrendering to pastel-shaded midlife mellowness. ■■■■■■■■■■