Album Review: Sports Team - 'Boys These Days'
An act that has been all rise and no fall since the start of the decade, Cambridge act Sports Team have been going from strength to strength in the British music scene. From conquering young hearts during lockdown with their critically acclaimed debut record Deep Down Happy, to breaking out of the borders and spreading their sound worldwide, it was time to bring the world their third helping of a full-length record. Enter Boys These Days.
A band that has their tongues planted so comfortably in their cheeks, they take their jobs as seriously as any rockstar would. Making a name for themselves for writing songs about fishing in rivers, driving along motorways and major Hollywood actors, they have never been beige and boring in their artistic visions. They have always been a cheeky group of young adults still finding their way around the world, which is what makes Sports Team such a relatable group to keep up with. However, they do not seem too detached from growing up, as told by the track ‘Maybe When We’re 30’.
A calmer track about the stages of life and what it means - which to frontman Alex Rice, means reading the Daily Mail, writing complaints to the local council, and adopting a dog once hitting the 30-year milestone. It’s a promise more than a worry or a threat; a guarantee that at the big ages of 30, 40, 70, 80, he will be ready to live every part of those ages with his love interest. He will be ready to abandon his youth if it means he gets to grow older with the one he cares about and give them everything they want and need. No hesitation, no pushback.
The record is full of unique songs, unique tales and anecdotes and confessions of emotions. One of the first singles taken from the record, ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’ is one that is catchy, strong, and packaged in lavish luxury. However, it teeters between the figurative and the literal. There is a balance between the song being a metaphor for a lover, a being of human desire; or that it is a literal love song towards a literal vehicle with little imagination or abstraction behind it. Whichever the fans decide, or whichever the band decides to divulge, would be valid and possible when considering the lyrics to the track.
And that is the selling point to Sports Team. If it’s abstract, it’s thoughtfully creative. If it’s literal, it’s cleverly ridiculous.
Boys These Days is just a new chapter in the six-piece’s collective diary of the world and its happenings. Sometimes staying down-to-earth and writing what one knows and lives is the key for the next big hit album in rock, and they have proven this twice before. Now let’s get third-time lucky.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
