Watch: Teen Beams “Round the Cathedral”

04 Sep 2013 — Henry Schiller

Teen Beams is the recording project of Danish musician Niklas Langeland Pedersen, and below is the perhaps unofficial video for his song "Round the Cathedral". Sounding like a Cocteau Twins influenced version of Ducktails, "Round the Cathedral" takes me back to the halcyon days of 2009, when everything sounded like the mid '90s had been run through a flanger. There is a definite Smiths-influence on the guitar work that is audible beneath the effects, as well as on the song's gloomy-but-gorgeous aesthetic.

Do we move too quickly from one indie rock fad to the next? Are we, the music journalism community, crushing out genres before they even have the chance to grow? I'm not sure, but I do worry that people won't give Teen Beams a chance because his sound is a few years out of the mode. But "Round the Cathedral" is a fine piece of psych pop, and worth sullying your reputation as a forward-thinking music snob to get into.