Velvet Crush's second album is an old-fashioned pop record: 12 songs in 40 minutes, filled with ultra-melodic guitar hooks and simple, memorable melodies. While it's traditional in form, the music on
Teenage Symphonies to God isn't retro.
Velvet Crush manage to inject a real enthusiasm and freshness in the standard three-minute pop song, whether they're playing originals that sound like forgotten classics ("Time Wraps Around You," "This Life is Killing Me," "My Blank Pages," "Hold Me Up") or forgotten classics themselves (
Gene Clark's "Why Not Your Baby" and
Matthew Sweet's "Something's Gotta Give"). With a crisp, warm production from
Mitch Easter,
Teenage Symphonies to God is one record that deserves to take its title from
Brian Wilson. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine