The Thermals : Personal Life

The Thermals have been consistent, even if that’s consistently relatively mediocre.  The Portland outfit of singer/guitarist Hutch Harris and bassist Kathy Foster are young, but have been around a bit longer than today’s garage-punk movement, allowing them to be relative ‘veterans’ of the scene, and don’t need to be something new or special to stand out.  So they seem to be feeding off their fans’ energy and their own live, while putting out middling records like Personal Life – not off-putting, but hardly revelatory, and it struggles to be truly memorable.

Not that Personal Life is without its variance; it’s just that none of the sides of The Thermals on offer really grab you.  Harris can be catchy, if thin, on “I Don’t Believe You” or “Your Love Is So Strong”, but so can a lot of people.  His somewhat talk-emo-punk vocals, like a younger/poor man’s Ted Leo (QRO photos – who The Thermals have gone from opening for – QRO photos – to headlining over – QRO photos) is clear, but rarely evocative.  The Thermals can deliver a standard indie-punk song, such as “Power Lies” or the sadder following “Only For You”, but really need to do more to be remembered.

On Personal Life, they occasionally do – “Never Listen To Me” has a more interesting, leveled procession, while the garage-surf guitar chords and actually compelling vocals to closer “You Changed My Life” make it the best song on the album.  Admittedly better than their last release, the forgettable Now We Can See (QRO review), The Thermals still need to do more to be anything more than run-of-the-mill.

MP3 Stream: “You Changed My Life“