“Ohhhh you’ve been waiting for a while!” exclaims guitarist Rob Knaggs on lead vocals in the opening seconds of Sports Team’s debut album. In some sense, the cheeky line is true: Sports Team have been one of the buzziest British indie bands in quite some time.
But there’s also a lot to love here. For those hearing Rice’s screamed “HERE IT COOOOOOOOOOOOOOMES AGAIN!” or his “I just wanna be your mid-noughties MTV star” refrain at the thrilling finish of “Kutcher” for the first time, welcome. The songs, from the peppy, swagger-filled “The Races” to arms-around-your-friends singalong “Fishing,” feel every bit as joyful now as they did when they were first released.
The previously-released singles are still the strongest offerings here, and the newest material, with the exception of “Here’s the Thing,” never quite lives up to the band’s earlier highs. “Lander’’ kicks things off with an upbeat speak-sung missive about the monotony of contemporary post-grad life in England .