Hollerin’ like broken-hearted boozehounds with a Byrne fetish, Philadelphia’s The Teeth play malarkey that will get the whole dive bar bouncing. With harmonies only identical twins (Aaron and Pete MoDavis) could “la la” alongside soulful retro refrains and slaphappy lyrical non-sequiturs, their songs pop with cheeky originality.
And they’ve been making their own albums for years. Their 2004 EP Carry the Wood is a rowdy, six-song romp that fashioned them somewhere between early and late Beatles, but is scraggly around the edges and as silly as they want it to be.
You’re My Lover Now is their first album with Park the Van Records, and the recording is significantly—almost alarmingly—more polished. This is most apparent on “Yellow,” when Pete MoDavis’s bass goes funky, modal trumpets blare, and the mix sounds flawlessly balanced. For longtime fans of The Teeth, this gleaming production may take some getting used to, although it seems like a natural progression.
The album’s fourteen tracks bounce between Kinks-meet-Muppets piano-bashers (“Molly Make Him Pay”), string-flourished ballads about a dad who abuses kittens (“A Fight in the Dark”), Pixies-style anthems with perfectly measured Brian Ashby guitar solos (“Walk Like a Clown”), and Dear Jane pop perfection (“The Coolest Kid in School”), all hovering between the two- and three-minute mark.
Most excellent, though, is when The Teeth embrace – with both hands, squeezing mercilessly – their R&B influences. “Your Feelings on Life” features handclaps, rock ‘n’ roll riffs, Jonas Oesterly’s drum pummeling, and call-and-response shouts, whereas “Ball of the Dead Rat” is sung with the vocal range of soul legends.
– Kristen Grayewski
The Teeth (Park the Van Records)