Holing up in a rented house to hash out their second record, Sports Team approached things from a more personal, less observational perspective. Gulp!, the resulting album (originally meant for release in July but victim of multiple delays due to production issues), is a leaner and more focused affair than Deep Down Happy; considering the wide rollout for the former combined with the added time together as a unit, this just makes sense. Clocking in at a compact 33 minutes, Gulp! doesn't really fall into the traps of getting weirder or forcing exploration that so many young bands get drawn into on their second records; instead, this is more or less a continuation of what they've already established, albeit in a slightly less dynamic package.
The energy stays high throughout, as established by fiery opener The Game, its punk flurry bashed it with reverence and enthusiasm as Alex Rice admitting "life's hard but I can't complain" in what could stand to be a motto for most of us. Dig! (so many exclamation marks!) takes a more indie-minded approach, angular guitars and busy drumming propelling the song in what could be considered more in line with what fans may have expected. The Drop allows for a more layered approach but remains fun as hell. Even when things slow down, as they do on Cool It Kid, there's a gritty playfulness at the heart of the song that boils over on a loud, grunge-adjacent chorus that explicitly reminds me of Blur in all the best ways.
Unstuck closes out the first half in sprightly style, its bouncing beat complimented by tasteful guitar work and a pleasantly anthemic chorus. Moving past the album's halfway point, early single R Entertainment keeps things moving with an energetic and slightly whimsical take on our society's need for constant content. This is followed by Kool Aid, yet another foot tapper that explodes into a rollicking double-time stunner on its chorus; it's one of those songs that sound like everything could come unhinged at any moment but it's all navigated with expert precision.
Suddenly, we're on the home stretch, and things calm down ever so slightly with Getting Better and its more easy going melody and universal message of our incessant march toward death; if it sounds kind of dark and morbid, tell that to the jaunty piano. Fingers (Taken Off) ratchets the intensity back up, using a tom-heavy beat and off-kilter guitars to deliver one more shot of chaos before the album closes on a somewhat more subdued note; Light Industry is a light acoustic number at its heart, although there are splashes of colour applied that keep things from getting too sparse and boring. Midway through, it blossoms into a full band anthem that brings it all home in suitably majestic fashion.
The pandemic hurt everyone in one way or another but, for a band as young and fun as Sports Team, Covid seems to have been especially cruel. Now, with a couple of years of practice in panicking about the state of the world, things have started to open back up, and fun appears to be back on the menu. By picking up where their underappreciated debut left off while resisting any and all urges to move away from their high octane sound (even going so far as to cut a guest appearance by the legendary Jools Holland from the track list), Sports Team have been afforded a second chance to make a first impression. They may have titled the album after the famous Wile E. Coyote realization that the ground has given out and the fall is coming, but Gulp! is a fast and fun record that should only see Sports Team continue to rise.
September 23, 2022 • Bright Antenna/Island
Highlights The Game • Cool It Kid • Getting Better
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