The Thrills' 2003 debut, So Much for the City, was a sunshine-drenched statement of intent. But the less than stellar reception for follow-up Let's Bottle Bohemia resulted in the five-piece disappearing to lick their wounds. "We've been away for a couple of years," says singer Conor Deasy. "You might have noticed."

Or maybe you haven't. Where Snow Patrol are capable of setting off genuine shivers and Keane peddle genial familiarity, the Thrills offer a limited charm. In the wardrobe of rock, they are a woolly cardigan - unremarkable, unfashionable and out of shape.

Their new album, Teenager, is not quite the makeover the Thrills desperately need. Though their love affair with California and the Beach Boys lingers, they have now turned to their shared adolescence in Dublin in a bid to create a mythology of their own.

But Teenager is a rain-splattered trip down memory lane that is low on air-punching glee. It is little wonder that the band take the stage to the overwrought strains of Roy Orbison's Running Scared.

Slick in a suit jacket and jeans, Deasy looks like a T4 presenter and waves his arms around like a trainee toreador. Though nothing can disguise his size zero voice, he is on safer ground with the old hits, notably Santa Cruz and Big Sur, where the crowd sing for him. There is no denying the warm affection Whatever Happened to Corey Haim and One Horse Town provoke, but it is hard to care much when all but Deasy look like they would rather be elsewhere. Keyboardist Kevin Horan seems especially unimpressed as Deasy kicks off another bout of hand-clapping. With such apathetic anthems, it is hard to argue with Horan's disinterest. The Thrills are in danger of their new single, Nothing Changes Round Here, becoming their epitaph.

· The Thrills play V Festival in Hylands Park on August 18 and Weston Park on August 19. Details: vfestival.com