Team Me - To The Treetops!
Norwegian indie-pop six-piece Team Me explode into being with the very first track on the To The Treetops!, Riding My Bicycle. The initial slow burn is even better once the song really gets going, layering whimsy over whimsy to really enhance the magical, dreamy feel. The vocals are close and harmonised, particularly enjoyable on the chanting 'na na na's unlike the usual fare.
Fool is one of the stand-out tracks, initially slow and gently melodic, the hooks seemingly tripping off the tip of vocalist Marius Hagen's tongue. The song swings from spidery and sparse to building up - there's a slight unease hiding below everything but Fool manages to always stay enchanting. Stopping just short of a wail, Fool sometimes seems like a prayer and sometimes like a cry for help, with the vocals winding their way around the song until an abrupt finish.
Team Me give it their all, at no point on the album could they be accused of holding back. Instead, they go bigger and better while managing to avoid noise for noise's sake. Dear Sister is more upbeat fare, catchy and twee and, above all, uplifting. Carrying the listener along on waves and layers of sound, it's almost starry eyed in nature.
Sometimes twee indie-pop can become too teeth-hurtingly sweet but Team Me never quite hit the breaking point - possibly because it all feels so genuine. They sound like they're having the time of their life and they're extending their hand to invite you to come along with them.
While perhaps certain points could benefit from a slight holding back, it's difficult to begrudge the band their more exuberant moments. Favorite Ghost is an example of how well the band also do stripped back and pretty, gaining momentum from an initial reverent ballad until it becomes something much more besides; acoustic and close to a form of baroque in places.
In the end, to The Treetops! feels like nothing more than the remnants of some dream. And what a dream it would be; the album evokes images of Enid Blyton novels and Peter Pan-esque adventures. To the treetops indeed - and maybe even beyond.