Welcome back to Kittens in Ties, loyal reader. For this brief instant, we (meaning I) have slipped into the guise of music reviewer. If you like Pitchfork reviews, pretend I gave the album a 8.125 and a BNM tag or whatever it is they are doing over there nowadays. And listen to it here, and make up your own mind, knowing, however, that if your opinion isn't mine it is wrong.
In a review of the new Foals record, David Goldstein wrote, “What’s a telltale sign that a
young British band thinks they’re hot shit? When they open their album with an
instrumental,” and while I don’t know if Team Tomb thinks they are “hot shit,” I
can say they sound pretty damn sure of themselves. After about thirty seconds
of rhythm-less guitar noodling, the hi-hat comes in and clicks the intro track
into a somber groove, the kind of groove the comprises the majority of the
album. It’s something of a statement, though not made with any words. By the
time the falsetto vocals slip into the mix you are already well aware of what
kind of band you’re listening to.
For the most
part, Team Tomb rides a mellow intensity throughout the album. The guitar licks,
performed by Caleb Ian Campbell (formerly of the Polycorns), are graceful,
sometimes biting, but never reaching beyond the slinky pop rhythms the band has
carved out for itself. In that same vein, the drums drive and propel the tunes
with a sort of rhythmic certainty but never really crescendo. Behind it all,
simple keyboard lines complete the aesthetic. 