Eternally Teenage by Tomorrow’s Tulips
LABEL: Galaxia

Alex Knost and Christina Keys are a couple that really does make beautiful music together. As Tomorrow’s Tulips, the seasoned Cost Mesa musicians (he is the former frontman of the band Japanese Motors) join other couples/bands like Tennis with their debut album Eternally Teenage, which blends hazy surf-pop vocals with garage rock guitars. The end result sounds like Crystal Stilts played with the laid-back attitude of Toro y Moi, and feels like a trip to the beach to go surfing with your special someone.

The title track kicks off the album with Knost’s dreamy, mumbled (nearly indistinguishable) vocals and a wave of guitars that pierce through layers of reverb. The sway-worthy track is backed with atmospheric “oohs” and “ahhs,” and ends with Knost wistfully chanting “teenage, teenage...” like he’s stating the band’s mantra. The track, like most others on the album, clocks in at just over two minutes. 

Tomorrows Tulips - "Eternally Teenage" from jack Coleman on Vimeo.

Although Knost takes the vocal lead on most tracks, Ms. Keys sings “Shades of grey with a lazy drawl on “Shades of Grey,” her mumbled, sweet voice turning sour at the end of phrases “sleeping in and smelling flowers,” betraying a bitter edge to the tune.

The laid-back attitude of most tracks picks up mid-album, with the song “Casual Hopelessness” which adds subtle but energetic organs and a much faster beat. “Don’t wanna be a vampire, wanna see the sun” pleads Knost on one of the more surf-rock tracks on the album. The song ends in a rather sudden and disappointing fade-out, cutting short what might have built to be the album’s best pop anthem. The slack is quickly picked up by the album’s best track “Untitled,” also it’s least clouded by reverb and echo. The sweet jam is full of sweet-nothings lyrics like “I want you to do something nice, and it’d be nice if you did it with me.” The backing vocals and jangly guitars do not overwhelm Knost’s vocals, and sounds cleaner and tighter than some other tracks.

Most of the album is recorded with an ironic romance. The song “Roses” begins with a giggle from Ms. Keys as Knost sings the tongue-in-cheek lyric “There’s not enough roses in California to keep us from dying alone.” Much of Knost’s lyrics in the song are half-talked, half-sung in the vein of fifties group, the Shangri-las. That group is best known for sweeping epic songs about teenage problems like being dumped at fifteen and it feeling like the end of the world. “Roses,” takes that style and turns it on it’s head, pointing out how little a deal it actually is.

Although the album does end up with a few too many instrumental tracks, the songs are laced with charm and the quirky bravado that Knost brings to his lyrics. The perfect soundtrack for a summer fling, Eternally Teenage, might just live up to the promise of its title.


REVIEWED BY JENNIFER MILLS
JENNIFER’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “Untitled” • “Casual Hopelessness” • “Eternally Teenage”

FREE MP3: “Casual Hopelessness”
FREE MP3: “Eternally Teenage”