Sound Team "Movie Monster" (Capitol)
By Ryan Harig
Tuesday. Jun 06, 12:01 AM
Major label fears don’t play a part in this team.

Being a band on Capitol Records has got to be a really stressful thing, especially when you’re a new band that’s released a couple EPs but haven’t been around that long to stand shoulder to shoulder with labelmates like Coldplay and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Maybe Sound Team would conform to a major studio producer and get that warm, lovely, mass produced identity till Yellowcard are opening for them in arenas? It’s hard to go into this disc without feeling the burning memory of bands who have gotten the major treatment and fallen far from where they were headed (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, etc.)… but alas, something good happened when this Austin, TX outfit went into the studio with producer Michael McCarthy. They made a stunning record, full of pure intricate synths and sweet delayed guitars, moving along to thought-provoking and fully realized climaxes. I’m amazed at this album. Most bands fall into something big and scary and fear settles in them and everything that made them pure and true in the first place gets lost in the mix. But Sound Team didn’t lose their focus. This is the album that every little indie nerd squad will be talking about this year, and with due cause. Starting with “Born to Please” – a sing along shout out track that literally forces you to sway your shoulders and bob your head – into the analog diddy bop swing of “No More Birthdays,” major label knobs are turned in all the right ways.

Finally, there’s the immensely anthemetic closer “Handful of Billions,” which in my opinion is the album’s coup de grace. An arena filler in the best of ways. Emanating imagery from its brokenhearted core, it transports you to a place of love and happiness that you forget sometimes music is capable of. Movie Monster is more than a debut: it’s a statement. It says, “Sound Team are here to stay, and their music is something to take notice of.” Yellowcard, be warned: you’re going on first.
www.soundteam.net
www.capitolrecords.com

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Ryan Harig

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