Singles

Sound Team - Born To Please

Emily Tartanella 11/10/2006

Rating: 3/5

As the perfectly mustachioed Mr. Flowers indicates, the recent best-British-band-in-America trend has become rather passé. Now, it's entirely more fashionable to be bluesy, ballsy, and brusque with a Springsteen grin and wincingly tight jeans, rather than churn out an eyeliner-laced imitation of New Order circa 1988. Sound Team are, evidently, ignorant of the trends: or rather, ignorant of their shifting.

In other words, this is a slice of U2-meets-Police gloominess, damn catchy in a way that never becomes grating, with an intro that pings like an eerie reminder of “Since You Been Gone” (post-modern irony, in my opinion). True, the lyrics make Radiohead seem coherent (“All of the bedrooms fold into the Perfect Chair,” anyone?), and the difference between the “radio edit” and “album version” is all of 35 seconds, but this Texan sextet makes enough amiable synth-rock to help you forget the inevitable fact that Sound Team will be completely forgotten in a year.