Getting Intimate

When Hutch Harris sings “I wanna know your feelings, I wanna know your shame”, you get the strangest feeling of security. And as the little coy distorts creep into your bones, an instant need to “wonder into the dark” like he asks you to takes over. Arguably, The Thermals couldn’t have chosen a better intro than I’m Gonna Change Your Life for their fifth studio material, Personal Life. As homey and comfortable as the rest of the record, it somehow prepares you for the angst and insecurity that seems to take over as it becomes obvious this album is a story about failed human relationships.

As it evolves, the three Americans never give up on that feeling, even if it’s just the reassuring way in which Harris lets his voice follow every drum beat and brief moment of sweeping guitars then gently whispers “my love” on Only For You. It gently tickles your ears as the Portland trio makes Robert Pollard proud with the short and endearing Guided By Voice scented Alone, A Fool. There is, as a matter of fact, a great deal The Thermals owe to the jingly pop of the Ohio band for the making of this Personal Life.

It’s also a strangely punk album, admittedly in spirit more than sound or songs length. It feels like a blow in your face, but not thanks to the overall sounds. It’s the little things that make and break relationships and so it is the details that make The Thermals très punk this time round. It’s the nervous riffs and almost mechanically delivered lines off Personal Life’s longest track, Never Listen To Me, even though the disco cymbals make the song take the dancefloor direction. The way Harris burns with anxiety and spits his deepest worries over the battle of the instruments on Power Lies. The instant concert anthem Your Love Is So Strong, those distorted vocals, the pounding drums, ascending guitars, the lines “Your love is so strong/ It cracks at the slightest touch/ Your love is so strong/ It crumbles to dust”.

What makes Personal Life even better is its ending: the oddly OMD-ish You Changed My Life, the cycle complete, heavy dose of bitterness infused in your stereos. “You made me see how everything I ever knew was gone”. Sure, this release may be a bit more toned down than the previous ones. Sure there might be less shouting and not so many outbursts of insane energy. But Personal Life is beautiful enough in its search to replace the political with the intimate and it still has plenty of heart.