Singles

Team Waterpolo - Letting Go

Sel Bulut 01/03/2008

Rating: 4/5

Upon listening to Letting Go you're instantly met with a few questions. One, how have they taken the lyrics of Franz Ferdinand's 'Do You Want To?' and merged it with the melody 'Mamma Mia' and actually been successful? Two, why have I just been transported back to the nineties? And three, who the hell even are this band?

Team Waterpolo appear to have sprung up quite literally from nowhere and are already supporting high-profile acts like CSS, despite having only played their first gig last November and only having around four recorded songs floating about cyberspace. Unlike the majority of no-material hype bands though, Team Waterpolo appear to be genuinely quite good, if Letting Go is anything to go on.

For such a new band it sounds so fully formed it's as if they've been together for years, with light vocals drifting by so easily that you can ignore the fact that said lyrics seem to be directly lifted from said Franz single. With production so very reminiscent of nineties pop - such as the clean guitars, the somewhat hidden synth, the drum claps and the layered “dooooo yooooou waaaaanna” backing vocals (when was the last time you heard that in indie rock?) - you half expect Chumbawumba to pop up and to transport you back to World Cup '98. Perhaps this sound all comes from growing hearing Blur and Pulp on the radio, and to them that is what pop music sounds like. Or perhaps they just didn't want to just sound like the Courteeners.

Although momentum is briefly lost through a few 'serious' moments that demonstrate not much more than a presumed discovery of cool vocal effects, this has 'summer festival highlight' written all over it.

Release date: 25/02/08