Times New Viking: "Fuck Her Tears"

Coming of age as I did in that dark era during which Blink-182 dominated the airwaves, inspiring even more idiot bands to launch careers (Sum 41, shudder), the term “pop-punk” long prompted a knee-jerk flash of disdain. But as years go by, I’ve been able to distance it from such menacing associations. To borrow from George Costanza’s riff on manure, when taken separately the terms are good: pop, punk. The “ma” and the “newer.” It’s actually through listening to Superchunk and their latest Merge acquisition Times New Viking that I’ve learned to redefine my perception of this genre. When done well, the marriage of pop and punk can be a long-lasting and happy one, with nary a hot topic garment in sight.

Times New Viking have been slowly edging in this direction since their humble beginnings in 2004. At first concerned primarily with raising noisy hell, the threesome could never really stifle their gift for melody. Their two-album stint with Matador found them turning down the volume just enough to refocus on songcraft, and the forthcoming Dancer Equired was put together in an actual, honest-to-God recording studio. “Fuck Her Tears,” the newest release from that record, is probably their poppiest work to date, but it never loses that messy, bratty sneer: the stuff of good mall punk. At just barely over two minutes, it’s a short, scrappy burst of nonsense energy that hints at a really fun album around the corner. Dueling vocalists Beth Murphy and Adam Elliott chant tunefully, though not always harmoniously, through the chorus, turning on a dime from sentimental to snotty: “My heart it beats yet / To your silhouette / Ah-ah-ah fuck her tears.”

There’s not much to the song, but it’s an undeniably good time. It’s not as abrasive as some of their previous efforts but also, thankfully, not a polished studio product. Jared Phillips’ fast-forward rhythm guitar is prominent, but also manages to leave room for Murphy’s melodic keyboard lead. The attitude is loose here, but the music itself is surprisingly economical; Times New Viking know to get out when the getting’s good. “Fuck Her Tears” is a song to put on repeat, frivolous but resolutely joyful. It’s a true straddling of genres, the way pop-punk should be—and it may just be enough to put that term back in good standing for all the snobs out there.