Album Review: Sports Team - 'Gulp!'
One of indie’s hardest working and hardest drinking bands is back, bigger than ever, with just their second full-length helping to the public. Open wide; it’s time to Gulp!
Sports Team have made waves throughout the scene, peaking their performance throughout the pandemic with the release of their debut record Deep Down Happy and showing no signs of stopping or dropping. Finally hitting the road, making new music and bringing it to a larger audience than ever before, now is the best time to bring out what is hopefully the furthest thing from a sophomore slump. Enter Gulp!.
The album is led by single ‘R Entertainment’, which keeps to the elements found in the London-based band’s debut. A winning selection which brought Deep Down Happy to the No.2 slot on the UK album charts, and it doesn’t seem to be growing stale or tiring. Indie as a genre is in its height once again as the 2020s are underway, and Sports Team are at the front, running this musical movement rippling through the UK scene. They know what works for themselves and their adoring fans, and as long as it’s something they can work through and stay passionate and authentic about, there are no limits to their journey.
A part of Sports Team’s charm is their real and down-to-earth nature through their songs. Singing about life in Britain, as trademarked from their previous record with tracks about taking a drive along the M5 or hanging out and fishing in the River Thames, it gives their music a more relatable and at-home feel. This is similarly felt in newer tracks such as ‘The Drop’ and ‘Cool It Kid’; both of which have different energies trapped within their respective run times, but work to bring out that proud hometown feeling within the listeners. If there is anything that is to be said about indie rock, it’s that it is one of the most truly British genres to ever hit the airwaves. It can be gentle and warming, or it can be rough and tough and gritty - and both sides of this coin are flipped within Gulp!.
Special attention to the country influences felt throughout ‘Getting Better’, as it takes a more acoustic-based melody with vocalist Alex Rice mimicking the country-music yodel vocals and falsetto vocalisations between stanzas. It’s a little twist on a fascinating rock-based album, and it is one that’ll be very much appreciated by how smoothly it fits into the overall jigsaw puzzle that is the record.
With a sold-out tour waiting to commence in the following weeks and a self-run promotional tour around the country happening as the album releases, Sports Team are ready to break a bone and rip a seam to bring this great collective to life for their dedicated fan base at home and beyond. Let the tunes slide down smooth and savour the taste; all it needs is one big delicious Gulp!
Words by Jo Cosgrove
