Great Grandpa – Teen Challenge (Stream)

by Steven Spoerl

Last week there were great new songs from Wren, The High Curbs, Pat Keen, Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs, Interlaken, Cool Ghouls, See Through Dresses, Suntrodden, Dave Catching, Eerie Gaits, and KU that made their public debut. Great Grandpa also resurfaced with the incredibly impressive “Teen Challenge”, ensuring that a whole lot more people would be learning their name. In 2015, the band made some waves with the excellent “Mostly Here” but have been fairly quiet since that point. “Teen Challenge” ends that silence in spectacular fashion.

Coming in advance of their forthcoming Plastic Cough, the band’s forthcoming debut full-length, “Teen Challenge” is a pitch-perfect window into the band’s particularly enticing grunge-pop aesthetic. Muddied tones, sunny melodies, a wildly erratic bridge, and a breathtaking grasp of dynamics elevates “Teen Challenge” from simply being another piece of gloriously ragged ’90s revivalism into something that borders on a transcendental catharsis. One of the year’s more explosive songs, “Teen Challenge” is the perfect setup for what looks to be an astonishing record. It’s an insistent storm of feeling that resonates long after its played itself out.

Listen to “Teen Challenge” below and pre-order Plastic Cough from Double Double Whammy here.