Album Review: The Hold Steady – “Teeth Dreams”

By: Luke Ottenhof –

Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady has been crafting bar-rock anthems for over a decade. Celebrated tunes like “Stuck Between Stations” and “Stay Positive” defined the band’s audacious ambition, and their desire to tell us all a story.

The formula has remained much the same over the band’s career, but it’s no stretch to say that their latest LP, Teeth Dreams, ups the ante. With the help of producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Deftones), the songs are more concise and arena-ready; guitar riffs sound like a chorus, bass lines meld healthily, and a slew of Craig Finn’s vocals, which are now treated to some reverb and echo, adding to the grand soundscape the group has carved out on this record. It all makes for an appealing record, but almost to a fault; it’s almost too stadium-y, and the smallish charm of the plainer days of The Hold Steady are all but gone. It’s all the natural curve of the band, and Teeth Dreams is a big step forward for a group who has stuck to the plan, but as all things do, it comes with a cost. Luckily, with this album, it’s worth it.

The band comes out swinging with “I Hope This Whole Thing Didn’t Frighten You” with a kicking guitar line and percussive snare snaps to set the tension. A lamentation for old friends who aren’t so anymore, Finn’s knack for storytelling is in good form; “There was a side of this city I didn’t want you to see,” he remarks. The bombastic breakdown that kicks in halfway through presents one of the strongest melodies on the record; it’s an emotional, watershed moment in the track that perhaps would’ve served just as well as a outro.

“Spinners” maintains the energy with an even more epic intro that, along with its predecessor, can’t help but remind of Colour and the Shape-era Foo Fighters; perhaps its just coincidence that the one album Raskulinecz produced sounds like Dave Grohl’s powerhouse band, but either way, the songs carry some aspirations to a more anthemic, chorus-laden level. “Heartbreak hurts but you can dance it off,” mourns Finn, putting to doubt any rests that the four-year break took any toll on his lyricism.

A gang of guitar tones compensates the relative absence of keys on the record. One of the anomalies, “Runner’s High” makes nice use of some organ-sounding stylings, in a tune reminiscent of Stay Positive’s “Sequestered in Memphis”.

The album keeps the adrenaline pumping with tunes like “Wait a While” and “Big Cig”, with the latter’s guitar work sounding like classic Slash; the solo rips the tune wide open, and offers some hard rock vibes. “Wait a While”’ and its acoustic bridge points some nice pop feelers into the fray, while Finn’s ever-more melodic vocals croon, “Why don’t you wait a while, wait a while,” in one of the album’s simpler moments. It’s not his usual offering, but it’s a break from the tangles of some of the stories.

Slower moments come in the form of ballad, “The Ambassador” and nine-minute slow-burner “Oaks”. The band truly flexes its dynamic muscles on this one; freeing organ wails, soaring distortion-soaked solos, and alternating periods of soft and loud toy with the expanse of time. It marks The Hold Steady’s longest song on an album, and not once does it drag through its nearly 10-minute run time. That’s an accomplishment few bands can pull off.

Teeth Dreams offers some rare moments in Hold Steady history. It’s the first album without longtime keyboardist Franz Nicolay, the first album recorded with touring guitarist Steve Selvidge, and the first album with Raskulinecz at the control board. The shakeup yields some great results, at the expense of some filler moments. These detract just sparingly from the record, but it’s still a detraction. With a new sound, a new approach, and new people, The Hold Steady’s path from here looks promising.

Essential Tracks: “Spinners”, “Big Cig”, and “I Hope This Whole Thing Didn’t Frighten You”.