The Thrills
Let's Bottle Bohemia
Virgin

The Thrills are a group of Irishmen obsessed with (a) Gram Parsons and (b) the alienating glamour of old California, which means they make music for people trying to drink themselves to death. The Thrills' second album, Let's Bottle Bohemia, doesn't top its predecessor. Like many second albums, it's basically two good new songs packaged alongside some ideas left over from the previous year. But there's still something profoundly likeable about this kind of music, and it has to do with the way the album feels (as opposed to the way it sounds). The pianos feel sad. The guitars feel exhausted. Everything's loose, but hat premise may sound pedantic, and its profundity is mostly an extension of its simplicity. But this is the kind of realization no one truly makes until they're actually inside a limousine , and I suspect that's precisely where Deasy was when he wrote the lyrics. Any time a record makes you feel like you're a different person in a different place, that record is probably pretty good.

Grade: B