REVIEW: The Go! Team – ‘The Scene Between’

March 12th, 2015

Matthew Leimkuehler

Artist: The Go! Team
Album The Scene Between
Genre: Indie Pop, Surf Rock

Across-the-pond pop band The Go! Team have returned after a four-year hiatus with the uplifting and light-hearted cross-genre LP, The Scene Between. If this new effort from the British band could be described in one word, it would simply be: fun. The record is just…fun. It’s fun the way swimming on a hot summer day is fun, or fun the way staying up all night and talking to friends is fun. It just oozes a euphoria of adventure.

It’s exactly what you’d want out of an indie pop record.

Bringing together a mismatch of sub-indie rock genres to form something poignant and memorable, The Scene Between, is a record full of flavor and style. Songs like the record opener, “What D’You Say?,” and the fun, bubbly stand-out track “Catch Me On The Rebound,” both capture this essence strongest — both are songs that just make you want to break into a smile and shake your head. It’s like a really sweet piece of candy, only for your ears.

The fun doesn’t stop with those two tracks: songs like the title track “The Scene Between,” the surf-rock banger “Blowtorch,” and smooth, slower number “Did You Know?” all capture this grainy, vibrant aesthetic from the band whilst still being all aurally different. “Blowtorch” is bombastic, capturing everything a surf-rock fan would want out of the genre — it’s simply cool. “The Scene Between” is the track that best represents what this entire record musically encompasses — under-the-radar pop music with a bit of gain and sass. On the total opposite spectrum, “Did You Know?” comes off as a swaying ballad up against the others — slower, and gripping at times.

And these differences, although subtle, is what makes The Scene Between such an overall memorable listen. It’s as though the band has taken a collection of genres within the indie rock world and fused them into one, giving a little something for everyone while leaving no one out. Songs like “The Art of Getting By” and “Her Last Wave” are totally different when played side-by-side; but when you step back and look at the record as a whole, it’s unmistakably The Go! Team. Such delivery comes with time, as shown with the development to this point of the band’s tenured career.

The record only flutters for an instant toward the back half, where some of the tracks start to bleed together. Overall, it’s a great release of lo-fi pop music: like feeding your ears with the sweetest candy during a beautiful summer evening. Flock to it if you’re ready to break a smile on your face and have fun listening to music — this is a record for uplifting the heart.

SCORE: 8/10
Review written by Matthew Leimkuehler, Music Editor (@callinghomematt)