Take your Pop Medicine with Adrian Teacher and The Subs
Vancouver's Adrian Teacher and the Subs returned last week with a surprise album release in the shape of Anxious Love. Featuring 9 songs in just over 19 minutes, Teacher ropes in Karl Blau (saxophone) and Nicholas Krgovich (piano) to add their talents to the band's trademark upbeat jangle-punk.
While the melodies are bright and summery, the subject matter is somewhat heavier, dealing with illnesses of friends and family in recent years, as Teacher explained to Exclaim: "A couple of years ago, my drummer Amanda got sick, and then she got better. Then my dad got sick, and he's not really going to get better. So I wrote these songs as I was thinking about this, and a lot of other things too.”
Musically, Anxious Love mostly builds on the legacy of Apollo Ghosts and 2016’s Terminal City, but there are also hints of the more dance-based project Cool TV on "So Choked" and ambient project Arbutus on "He Found Beauty and Goodness Everywhere and in Everyone".
"Pop Medicine" fizzes with a renewed urgency - documenting a relationship and the struggles to deal with a Cancer diagnosis. There's a real sense here that there is no time to waste in celebrating the ones we love. It’s beautifully succinct as well as catchy and ultimately uplifting - not a note is wasted in delivering the song's message.
The album is available as PWYC on BandCamp.
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