Any album that opens with a glorious Saxophone moment that sounds like it could be from a 70s tv show, softcore porn or a lost ABC B-Side is an album worth investing time in.
Enter then Sports Team, with their 3rd album Boys These Days. Coming off the back of their critically acclaimed sophomore effort Gulp!, this time everything seems to be turned up to 11 and then some.Opening track I’m in Love (Subaru) comes in with the aforementioned sax moment giving the listener’s ear a little tickle before going full new wave. It’s an audacious way to open things and one that had me hooked instantly. Thankfully the album becomes even more playful from there. The title track is a rollicking number full of keenly observed lyrics that still have tongues firmly placed inside of cheeks.
There is so much to dive into on Boys These Days, that it feels like you could listen to it years down the line and still find yourself discovering new things. Moving Together, Condensation & Sensible are some of the most irresistible, gorgeously written pop songs you’ll hear this year. Destined for summer playlists and beer garden soundtracks, they’ll take up residence in your brain and refuse to leave.
Bang Bang Bang brings a bit of a Western twang to the table. Despite the more serious tone of the lyrics, the song itself is written in such a way that you cannot help but tap your toes and nod your head to it.
Later in the album Bonnie, is a slightly more subdued moment on the album. Coming to live on the back of an elastic bassline, some scattered horn moments it slinks its away around the listeners ears more insidiously than the rest of the album demanding attention, rather than gently reaching out for it.
Album closer Maybe When We’re 30 is a hugely relatable look at what modern life looks like in your 30’s. It shines a light on the perception of what people think you should be doing vs the reality of your own expectations. It’s more at odds with the somewhat less serious nature of the rest of the album, but is a fantastic closer that feels oddly prescient, while being more than a little bleak in it’s narrative.
Sports Team have found a space somewhere between the swing and sheen of 80’s new romantic & the swagger and clever wordplay of britpop creating something entirely their own in the process. They are the exact type of band Patrick Bateman would listen, except he’s not in on the joke.
Amongst all the sardonic lyricism, there is a fairly obvious self awareness that the band not only turns inwards, but also reflects the society and times we are living in.Between the japes and the jabs, there is also a beating heart underneath it all, sometimes that can get lost, but Sports Team are such deft hands at songwriting it feels present in everything they do.
Boys These Days is a triumph of an album thats brings together so many different elements that it not only stands apart as an album all by itself, but showcases the maturation of the band who created it, sublime stuff from a band who keep going from strength to strength.
9/10
Boys These Days is out now via Bright Atenna. For more information on Sports Team head here
