Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley have been making music together in Teenage Fanclub for 37 years, and while some parts of being in a band have gotten easier with time, the simplest things can still trip them up. According to Blake, “It’s difficult when it comes to, y’know, coming up with a name for an album. Especially after you’ve made 12 of them.”

Teenage Fanclub’s 13th album Do Not Dare To Dream — out October 9, 2026 on Merge Records — takes its name from one of Blake’s songs on the record, “I Do Not Dare To Dream,” an infectious anthemic song driven by ringing acoustic guitars, joined at the end by dueling electric guitars that wrap around each other like a reassuring hug. Blake says that the title is meant to mock those memes that urge people to “dare to dream,” which to him are “kind of ridiculous... I don’t think the world works that way.”

And yet, just like the song that inspired its name, Do Not Dare To Dream is in no way a gloomy or pessimistic record. Like 2023’s Nothing Lasts Forever, Teenage Fanclub’s 13th album is full of songs that are calmly resolute, taking stock of the fraught state of the world without succumbing to despair.