Aufgenommen Ende August während einer intensiven zehntägigen Phase in der walisischen Landschaft, kann man die Wirkung dieser Umgebung auf der Platte hören - sie ist voller sanfter Brisen, weitem Himmel, Schönheit und Raum. Einer der eindrucksvollsten Texte des Albums findet sich im finalen Track »I Will Love You«. Das wunderschöne siebenminütige, fast kosmisch-akustische Tagtraumstück blickt jenseits der Wut und Polarisierung unseres modernen Diskurses auf eine Zeit, in der »the bigots are gone / after they apologise / for all the harm that they've done«.

Die Suche nach dem Positiven angesichts der düsteren Realitäten des 21. Jahrhunderts fühlt sich sehr nach Teenage Fanclub an - einer Band, die seit über drei Jahrzehnten eine Kraft des Guten ist und Melancholie mühelos in glorreich klingende Harmonien verwandeln kann.

Die besondere Qualität Teenage Fanclubs besteht vielmehr darin, dass ihre Musik auch nach so vielen Jahren noch ohne Abstriche gegenwärtig und relevant wirkt – zeitlos eben.​

(VISIONS, Oktober 2023)

If there's an overriding sentiment that runs through all of Teenage Fanclub's work and which has taken on a deeper resonance since at least 2010's Shadows, it's that the beloved Scottish group are journeyman pop bards crafting beautiful anthems about everyday life. It's a poetic, introspective vibe and one that illuminates all of their gently intoxicating 12th album, 2023's Nothing Lasts Forever. Their second effort since the 2018 departure of bassist/singer Gerard Love, Nothing Lasts Forever is a softly textured production anchored by songwriting of the remaining founder members, Norman Blake (guitars/vocals) and Raymond McGinley (guitars/vocals). Together, along with their longtime touring ensemble featuring Francis Macdonald on drums, Dave McGowan on bass, and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci founder Euros Childs on keyboards, they've crafted an album that finds them ruminating on growing older and coming to a place of peace with one's life. Explicitly, where Endless Arcade was written during a time of turmoil for Blake as he wrestled with the break-up of his marriage, here he seems to have found an acceptance and even hopefulness that life has more to offer. It's an uplifting vibration they conjure on the opening "Foreign Land," in which their slinky, fuzztone psych-guitar riffs frame Blake's lyrics about moving on from the past. He sings, "My heart was like a stone/But now it's beating brightly/The past's a foreign land/I did my best, you understand." The song nicely evokes the group's late-'60s Laurel Canyon folk-rock influences and perfectly sets up the tone of what's to come. Equally soft focus and organic textures follow, as on the Todd Rundgren-esque "I Left the Light On," the piano-driven "Self Sedation" with its Paul Williams-meets-the Beach Boys vibe, and the shimmering "Middle of Mind" whose poetic melody and spectral synthesizers bring to mind Pink Floyd ballad. We also get the crunchy guitar sparkle of "Tired of Being Alone" and "Back to the Light," both of which recall the band's classic Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain albums. With Nothing Lasts Forever, Teenage Fanclub have made a poignant, delicately rendered rumination on the passing of time and the enduring promise of love, throwing their lyricism into relief.

(by Matt Collar, All Music Guide)