Yesterday, Feb. 2, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed out of procrastination when I came across this golden tweet: “Teen Suicide is Back … Panthers in the Superbowl…..Tied Iowa Caucus…..New Kanye….wow…..blessed….. incredible……” tweeted by Elvis Depressedly’s twitter account. The first phrase “Teen Suicide is back….” made me lose my breath momentarily. If you know anything about Teen Suicide, you know that they haven’t released a new full-length album since 2012, so this is big news.
Lurking through Twitter, I found information about the band’s revival. They released a single from the new 26-song album to be named It’s the Big Joyous Celebration, Let’s Stir the Honeypot, called “Alex,” and when I played this song it was like all of my hopes and dreams had been fulfilled.
Teen Suicide fans have been waiting so long alone in the cold, and the band has released a fire track to bring us back home to the warmth. “Alex” begins with Sam Ray’s melancholy voice singing “Alex is the best / When she wants to die,” accompanied by the soft sounds John Toohey creates on the guitar and Alec Simke radiates from his bass.
The lo-fi band is sticking to their true colors. The entire song makes you feel kind of complacent, with lyrics like “We’re both only 16 / Skipping class to smoke weed,” and “Lying on her back / She says she wants to die.” Every sound complements the others, evoking a simultaneous feeling of tranquility and angst. The music is diverse and feels like a dream in the clouds during sunset. It’s gorgeous. April is too long a wait for this new album, but the little taste they’ve given us makes me feel #blessed.
