Teethe – Magic Of The Sale | Album Review
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Winspear
I have a question. Do you believe in destiny? Whether you think things are predetermined or totally random, something brought together four individuals from the flat plains of Denton, Texas, and made sure their four paths converged. Boone Patrello, Madeline Dowd, Grahm Robinson, and Jordan Garrett were all in separate bands and solo projects, but eventually connected through their shared creative scene, discovering a community in each other. As the songwriters collaborated and helped one another round out their respective songs through pressure-free jams, the idea of forming a band together only made sense. The result was Teethe’s self-titled debut, a southern slowcore record with glacier-paced songs, dreary guitar riffs, and soft, forlorn vocals reminiscent of bands like Low and Duster.
On their second album, Magic Of The Sale, Teethe’s Texas-sized version of slowcore is crafted on a grander scale with an all-star cast of collaborators. The band is diving deeper into the subgenre, carving out their own sonic lane with the help of an all-star team of collaborators like Xandy Chelmis of Wednesday, Charlie Martin of Hovvdy, and cellist Emily Elkin, who has played with Japanese Breakfast. The collaborators on the album are used in a tasteful way where they don’t overpower the songs, but just assist wherever they are needed. The song “Hate Goodbyes” is a beautiful blend of everyone’s talents combined into a singular moment, making for one of the record’s many highlights. The song entails classic weepy pedal steel, jangly electric guitars, and warm cello strings that put everything on a much grander scale.
Right before the album’s midpoint hits, two songs kick up the energy to full throttle. The first being “Holy Water,” which is the most aggressive song in the band’s catalog. It’s a fuzzy ’90s indie rock track done right with the electric guitars turned up to max power. Dowd observes the spiritual lengths people go to as they get older, singing “Take a sip and you’ll believe / In something better / In something bigger than me.” One track later, “Iron Wine” deploys a blown-out-speaker-inducing guitar passage that might be my favorite moment on the entire record. These are the kind of riffs that will rattle your house or sound like you have a gang of rowdy gorillas banging around in the trunk of your car. It’s an entertaining contrast, venturing from soft to heavy and back again. Both songs are outlier moments for the band in the best way possible, showing that if Teethe wants to swing for the fence with a louder, more intense sound, they can hit a home run out of the park on the first pitch. These songs also show the range that the band has developed through the years of being together and the confidence they have in each other to drive through any sonic highway of their choosing.
There’s a real elegance to how atmospheric these songs sound. The album is best played alone late at night, where the mind tends to wander and contemplate. The spacey aerial vibes of “Lead Letters” or even the bare bones instrumental of “Funny” are nocturnal in a way that instantly transports my mind back to summer nights lying on a bed of grass wondering where life will take me next. It’s a beautiful occurrence when music can transport you to a particular moment in your life, no matter how important or insignificant it may appear to the person listening. This is why I listen to music – to have moments like this that can evoke these kinds of feelings out of nowhere.
“Anywhere” is about the feeling of being stuck in one place, with restlessness taking over. Patrello sings, “Just gotta get out of here / Just make it all disappear / Anywhere, anywhere.” The title track “Magic Of The Sale” is a spacious, melancholic ballad about the steps people go through to fight off pain, whether mental or physical: “Set myself to sleep for good / Reach out for you / My hands so nude and beat to blue.” Elkin’s cello works overtime, elevating both songs for a bigger stage, resulting in some of the most blissful, poignant songs I’ve heard all year.
The fourteen songs consistently paint a picture figuratively and literally; both of the band’s album covers were brilliantly painted by Dowd. The jester-like creature walking the open fields freely in the dead of night is not someone who is afraid of the dark, but one who is comfortable with living in it. If you look closely at the figure’s face, it’s not a Pennywise evil grin, but a sly smile of contentment. I interpret this as the confidence they not only have within themselves, but also amongst one another to keep pushing into the unknown of their musical careers as a collective unit.
Teethe is a band that is unconcerned with the parameters of slowcore. Their belief in one another gives them the conviction to paint outside the lines of what a band in this genre should sound like. Magic Of The Sale is an impressive feat. I can feel the chemistry that this band has developed over the years – a long journey from the basement jam sessions of Denton to now being able to tour all over the globe and live out their dreams. With Magic Of The Sale, Teethe turn slowcore music on its head and make it into their own.
David is a content mercenary based in Chicago. He's also a freelance writer specializing in music, movies, and culture. His hidden talents are his mid-range jump shot and the ability to always be able to tell when someone is uncomfortable at a party. You can find him scrolling away on Instagram @davidmwill89, Twitter @Cobretti24, or Medium @davidmwms.
