Theme From Teenage Suicide

(voices over two-way radio...siren starts...heart monitor beeping)
"What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets."
"Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl."

Do not make the mistake of ignoring My Teenage Stride due to band name confusion (I originally thought they must be lame, or a type of teen-oriented gum, or just generally teen-oriented). The Brooklyn-based duo is actually closer to the much cooler/older C86 crowd, those of the original DIY Britpop sound characterized by cheap drum machines, jangly guitars, high fidelity twee and a restless suburban isolation we can all relate to.


My Teenage Stride - Theme From Teenage Suicide (from Lesser Demons, 2008)

The title for Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 novel (and Sophia Coppola's 1999 directorial debut) derives from a song by the fictional band Cruel Crux, a favorite of the Lisbon daughter Lux - who, unlike her four sisters, is anything but a virgin by the tale's end. Air composed the movie soundtrack, which along with standouts like "Playground Love" includes a heavily synthesized teen ghost summary of the whole creepy affair (below). Somewhere in Antibes, a young Anthony Gonzalez was deep into a pair of oversized headphones on a mattress tucked in the corner.


Phoenix - Playground Love (Air cover)


Air - Suicide Underground (from The Virgin Suicides soundtrack)