The Thrills - Let’s Bottle Bohemia

Let’s not and say we did. The Dublin quintet’s sophomore album deserves a juvenile rejoinder, because it’s guilty of trying so desperately to sound grown up. Gone is the innocent embrace of California and the earnest, Byrdsian jingle-jangle that gave The Thrills’ debut, So Much for the City, so much charm. In its place is an awkward attempt at Burt Bacharach-style orchestral pop. But no amount of piano and syrupy strings can disguise the album’s almost total lack of coherent songs. An immature, disastrous mess.