Glory Feels Alive: Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers Hit Their Stride
- Annette Geneva
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
There’s a particular electricity that lives inside a band when they stop asking for permission. Glory feels like that moment for Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. Not a debut anymore, not a scrappy promise, but a sharpened, beating alive record. The first thing I tell people when discussing the album is how ALIVE it makes me feel. You can hear the pulse in it. The touring. The near-burnouts. The inside jokes that became battle cries.
Fronted by Anna Ryan, with Neve van Boxsel, Scarlett McKahey and Jaida Stephensonlocking in like a gang that’s grown up together in real time, this record doesn’t feel like it’s trying to prove anything. It already knows.
With Catherine Marks producing - someone who understands how to let a band sound big without sanding off their edges - you get something that feels both feral and intentional.
The whole album unfolds kind of like flipping through a diary that’s been scribbled in lipstick/eyeliner, highlighter and the occasional tear stain. “I like the way that you linger…”
BALCONY is such a banger, cheeky, sexy. There’s bite, but also this flicker of control, like they know exactly when to push and when to pull back. “Hey! You know I love it when you say my name”… it’s pop punk-ish with bright drums and clever rhymes. A true singalong track.
TURN AROUND is somewhat a love song about longing for someone who doesn’t even know your name.
TALKING sees a bit of a shift. Slower, maybe moodier. The band lets themselves sit in something heavier without rushing to break the tension. It’s the sounds like it’s about a relationship where communication is not quite there.
DAYLIGHT - this one is about catching feelings and getting absolutely immersed in someone. I love this song. It’s so catchy and I’ve been catching myself humming it since seeing the band live back in February. “‘Cause I like the view, when I’m sitting with you.”
MINE - Jaida’s bass guitar work cuts through like a flare, and Neve’s drumming feels like it’s pushing everything forward. It’s sweaty, immediate, built for bodies in motion. “Want you mine, mine, mine, want you all the time.” This song is obsessive and it sounds exactly like how it feels in the first couple of weeks of having a new crush.
MOTHER - Lyrically sharper. There’s something observational here, a little more inward-facing about women being mistreated by not so nice men. Bass and drums sit right at the centre, grounding everything while the rest of the band spirals slightly around it.
WONDERFUL - Not a soft ending, but a knowing one. It feels like a full stop written with pen pressure. The kind that leaves an imprint on the next page.
What Glory really captures is the in-between: not kids anymore, not jaded yet. A band that’s toured enough to understand their own weight, but still plays like they’ve got something to prove to each other.
Their recent set at Laneway Festival felt like a preview of this version of them: tighter, louder, more self-assured. The kind of performance where the crowd doesn’t just watch, they get folded into it. You could see it: they’ve crossed some invisible threshold.
And with another Australian tour circling, this record feels like it’s about to fully come alive in rooms where the air gets hot and the floors shake a little. That’s always been their strength, but now they’ve got the songs to match the feeling.
Glory isn’t about arrival. It’s about momentum. It’s about a band catching themselves mid-flight and realising they’re not falling - they are actually very, very good at this.
Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers 2026 Tour Dates
Fri 1 May - The Gov (Tarndanya/ Adelaide)
Sat 2 May - Magnet House (Whadjuk Noongar/ Perth)
Thu 7 May - The Princess Theatre (Meanjin/ Brisbane)
Fri 8 May - Forum Melbourne (Naarm)
Sat 9 May - Roundhouse (Gadigal Land/ Sydney)
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