Lo-fi needn’t mean low ambition. That point was proved in 2014 by American Wrestlers, the bedroom pop pseudonym of US-based Scottish musician Gary McClure, whose self-titled debut explored synthpop, rootsy Americana and soul, all via an eight-track setup in his house. Word-of-mouth buzz followed soon after, along with a record deal with Fat Possum, and now McClure has a few more toys to play with for American Wrestlers’ follow-up. Goodbye Terrible Youth sees him ditch the eight-track and beef things up with a full band. Musically, things feel less scattershot: McClure has decided to settle on shoegazey power pop sat somewhere between Sebadoh and BMX Bandits. As an example of the genre it’s well observed and likable: opener Vote Thatcher is moog-driven power pop and more agreeable than that title suggests, while Amazing Grace has the low-key wistfulness of late-era Teenage Fanclub. Yet with this narrowing of focus comes a sense of safeness, and you can’t help but miss the sense of risk-taking that characterised McClure’s ramshackle early work.
