Beginning with quirky pop song “Better,” which echoes a fun and catchy sentiment, TEEN’s debut record continues this feeling in the simple and silly lyrics for “Come Back”: “I seeked you many loves/ I kissed you many men/ I stared into their faces/ Wondering when I’d see them again.”
Midway through, the albume lives up to the airiness suggested by its name at the slow and atmospheric “Huh.” While the title track captures its namesake with careful lyrics and stripped-back composition, providing the album’s most sensitive moment.
“Electric” is one of the more exciting features, with its repetitive chant-like melody and driving beat so typical of the Brooklyn chick band music scene from which it hails – think Frankie Rose offshoots Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls etc.
While fashionable, TEEN’s style can lack substance, and the latter half of the record particularly falls victim to this. Earlier on, the looping and chanting was all part of the aesthetics of the recording, but it eventually becomes whiny, monotonous and a bit annoying.
The record could have benefited from some more upbeat tracks later in the tracklist and a stronger, more sincere finish – even the title track could have been better placed as a closing.
In Limbo is an album unlikely to stand the test of time, but with some individual track highlights and a contagious sense of cool, it’s one worth adding to the playlist for the coming months.
-Chelsea McIver
