Producers: Imperial Teen
Imperial Teen released its debut album Seasick in 1996, an astonishing 30 years ago. Back then, vocalist/guitarist Roddy Bottum was an active member of a Faith No More that was still shining bright; the King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime album dropped in 1995, and Album of the Year would be released in ’97. People were fascinated by the fact that FNM were getting increasingly caustic, while Bottum’s new band were, on the surface, a sweet indie-pop outfit.
Of course, there was more to it than that. Imperial Teen’s lyrics have always been incisive and intelligent, and so it remains. Now on their seventh studio album and with the core lineup intact (Bottum, singer/guitarist Will Schwartz, drummer Lynn Truell, bassist Jone Stebbins), All Over You is a collection of atmospheric and lush indie-pop gems, all blessed with softly uttered but hard-hitting and poetic lyrics. “Kiss it Goodbye,” for example, leads you down a path of droning delicacy, before the pace picks up with a melodic curveball.
“We want to make people dance and think and feel at the same time,” said Schwartz in a statement. All Over You does precisely that.
