Team Sleep’s long-awaited, self-titled album is just a little too long and a little too big for its own good. There are some good ideas, but catchy hooks get developed into pointless yelling and listener disgust, not to mention ruining any sort of consistency one might hope to hear from a better band. A few later tracks, including “Tomb of Liegia,” “Elizabeth” and “Ever Since WWI” offer up head-nodding guitar licks, marimbas and strings as interesting fillers and softly-spoken haunting lyrics. You may not be able to understand exactly what Helium lead singer Mary Timony is saying, but she’s got an incredibly blase alto voice that makes you want to listen. I’m sure Chino Moreno, more famous for his work with the Deftones, knows that the album could’ve been better with less noise. One of the main problems is that the musicians fight with each other for sound: two guitars, drums and drum programming? It would take geniuses to make them click like puzzle pieces – these guys are trying to make parts fit when they just won’t. Team Sleep isn’t there yet, but a superior second album could show some much-anticipated maturity.
Archived article by Elliot Singer
Sun Staff Writer