Television Personalities - My Dark Places (2006)

The Television Personalities have a long history of writing what could be called pop music, except that it isn’t very popular and sounds much too abrasive and uncompromising. Somehow, singer-songwriter Dan Treacy manages to blend the child-like innocence of Daniel Johnston, the DIY pop aesthetic of Go Kart Mozart, and the stilted post-punk delivery of the Fall’s Mark E. Smith.

The curious thing about this album is that individual songs have a tendency to sound flat and unimpressive, but within the context of the album a greater understanding and appreciation emerges. The songs are uniformly dark in subject matter, ranging from drug addictions to failed dysfunctional relationships. The huge emphasis on the latter leaves Treacy in a very vulnerable position, so much so that you almost feel guilty for listening, as if you’ve stumbled upon his secret diary and know you shouldn’t be reading. Though, that seems to be his exact intention, a cathartic release of troubling, personal emotions that he’s kept pent up inside.

On “Velvet Underground,” Treacy copes with inadequacies as a relatively untalented musician compared to the seminal Lou Reed ensemble. He frustratingly admits that while lyrics come to him fairly easily, he cannot seem to recreate the VU’s influential sound. What Treacy doesn’t seem to realize is that it’s precisely his simple-yet-quirky melodies that allow his adolescent-sounding voice and straight-forwardly naïve lyrics to have the effect they do.

Streamable Track: "I'm Not Your Typical Boy"


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