Album
Team Picture
Recital
June 1 2018 (Big Dumb Music)
7/10
Words: Linn Branson
You'll probably know by the first track of the seven on this 'mini-album' from Leeds-based six-piece, Team Picture. The first single cut, ‘(I Have a) Little Secret’, is a good way to kick off. The synths and vocal sound almost retro, yet coated with a contemporary finish; it's quite irresistible. There's also a depth here, which may be in part due to the production hand of Matt Peel, who has worked with the dark post-punk sounds of Eagulls and Autobahn.
On the other hand, ‘Strange Year’ feels too disjointed, the sharp synths annoying and at three and half minutes, too long; 'Break Yr Heart' doesn't do much either, and 'Love Irritant' is just that. Things get back in the right groove by ‘Weird Movements’, which ties up the first half of ‘Recital’ and with vocals being provided by another of the band’s three singers, Thom.
Along with the opener, ‘Theme From Flint’ is the other standout. An elongated seven-minutes-plus affair that rides on a kind of psychedelic electronica for it's first half, before schizophrenically morphing into more caustic, post-punk tendencies (that Matt Peel, eh!). It's a weird one, but a good one. If this was around in the early 70s, you could envisage a lot of stoned hippies tripping out on 'the vibes, man; yeah, cosmic'. The Pink Floyd one for the 00s generation.
It then all gets all big and bombastic on the fuzzy buzz of ‘(I Want Your) Life Hack’, which the band describes as "a Talking Heads song from an alternate dimension". Which isn't far off the mark.
‘Recital’ is purposely split into two contrasting halves, made up of two acts of three songs. It could more be said to be a work of two parts: four good songs, with three others to fast forward on.
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