Do Not Dare To Dream

Description

Do Not Dare To Dream, the 13th album by Teenage Fanclub, takes its name from "I Do Not Dare To Dream" by Norman Blake, an anthemic song driven by crystalline acoustic guitars intertwined with electric guitars. The title mocks those memes that urge people to "dare to dream," which Blake finds "a bit ridiculous. I don't think the world works that way." The album is full of calmly resolved songs that take stock of the state of the world without succumbing to despair. Blake and McGinley are joined by Euros Childs (keyboards), Francis Macdonald (drums), and David McGowan (bass), a quintet that has played together long enough not to need to refine arrangements or prepare songs before entering the studio. The initial sessions took place over 14 days at Black Bay Studio, in the township of Kirkibost on the island of Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Their most isolated recording location to date. The band found a Domus church organ, numerous synthesizers, and a timeless landscape surrounded by raging seas and ancient ruins, including the Callanish stones on the nearby island of Lewis, older than Stonehenge. "In the place where we recorded, people sang thousands of years ago," says McGinley. "Life is short, but music is eternal."