Teenage Fanclub: Norman Blake, Gerard Love, Raymond McGinley. Additional personnel includes: Mike Cooke (trumpet, tuba); Megan Childs (violin); Sharon Fitzgerald (French horn). Recorded between August 1999 and March 2000. Despite debuting in the early '90s with a grunged-up, dirty sound, Scotland's Teenage Fanclub eventually settled into a pastoral, power pop paradise that continues on their sixth album, HOWDY. Blending their by-now-familiar mix of blissed-out, Byrdsian country-pop and dense, sunny Beach Boys melodies, HOWDY sets the groundwork early with the chiming chorus of "I Need Direction," a blissed out slice of sun-dappled pop. The album continues in this no-worries vein on such three-part harmony confections as "Accidental Life," "Dumb Dumb Dumb," and "My Uptight Life," which, despite their seemingly bummer titles, are gently strummed odes to hope, inspiration, and learning from mistakes. "What I know, I know, and I know where I belong," singer/songwriters Norman Blake, Gerard Love and Raymond McGinley sing on "I Can't Find My Way Home." The sentiment could serve as the group's calling card

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 08/17/2018