Teddy Geiger - Underage Thinking

Well, with the deck stacked against him from the start, the youngster lets his music do the talking on Underage Thinking.

It would be too easy to write off Teddy Geiger and his debut full-length album Underage Thinking before one even gets the chance to listen to it. Being that Geiger is opening for teen sensation Hilary Duff and Jesse McCartney, so-called music gurus will want to throw the 17-year-old Geiger under the bus before his music career even takes flight. While most have also seen Teddy on their televisions on the much too short-lived show Love Monkey on CBS, the stereotypes of him being a commercial powered young robot used to capitalize on America’s youth with his blue eyes and long hair, all puts Geiger in the position where he needs to prove himself.

That is a lot of pressure for such a young kid.

Well, with the deck stacked against him from the start, the youngster lets his music do the talking on Underage Thinking. Aside from age, Geiger has nothing in common with Hilary Duff. His music shows he is well beyond his age and his singer/songwriter style mixed with pop-rock flair, offers a refreshing sound to the genre. The best way to deflect the critics is knock them back with your music, and that’s what Geiger achieves on his full-length. With the talented youngster displaying his musical versatility by playing guitar, bass, piano and some of his ownpercussion on Underage Thinking, you almost forget he is just 17-years young. The kid is simply a musical phenomenon and he even gets everything right with his lyrical content where most young artists fall flat on their face.

While some like to compare Geiger to John Mayer, I find the comparison appalling, as his music already has more layers of depth and honesty than the man who made us all gag with his referencing to female bodies as a wonderland. Where Geiger really hits the nail on the head, is with his lyrics. He stays away from boring us with all his songs centering on puppy love, by wooing us with words that display his growing pains of every day life. While he still manages to get soft about the opposite sex here and there, his main focus is the path and journey of a young man growing intothe world. This is best displayed on the track "Thinking Underage:" "So soon to say it’s over / Let’s see what happens later on / I’m 16, my world just opened wide / I’ve got a pocket full of change / I’m tired of thinking underage / Cut this string and let me fly / Say goodbye."

While the album is loaded with tracks that have radio and TRL potential, there is enough variety of songs that sway from upbeat to soft and subtle. Geiger will almost definitely appeal to a younger audience on several different levels, however, its safe to say that music fans that appreciate a young talent growing into his own, will also be keeping close tabs on him. For being so young and releasing such a solid full-length, the future for Geiger is unquestionably bright. Hopefully those guiding the youngster will not steer him to just the TRL generation as he has the talent and sound to propel him to much higher ground.

(Columbia Records)