Team B

Team B

S/t

Tonacity

The previous two years have been extremely busy for Kelly Pratt. Between touring with The Arcade Fire and Beirut and recording with Coldplay, Nina Persson, Final Fantasy, The Macabees, Bishop Allen, Herman Dune, and many others, there shouldn't be time to breathe, much less write songs. This busy sideman lifestyle, however, is the driving force behind Pratt's new project, Team B.   While on tour in 2007-2008 with Arcade Fire and Beirut, he realized that downtime should be spent doing something more productive than keg stands. Armed with his laptop and the myriad instruments present on stage, he snuck off by himself to work on a series of new songs that reflect his wide tastes in music. Written in hotel rooms in the middle of the night, crammed backstage dressing rooms, and noisy airports, these songs are the Team B debut album.  In his weeks off tour, the songs were tweaked, partially re-recorded, and perfected in his apartment and various studios around Brooklyn. Drummer Pat Mahoney (LCD Soundsystem), bassist Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire), and Jon Natchez and Perrin Cloutier (Beirut) all provide invaluable contributions to the album. However, the lion's share of the music (vocals, guitars, horns, keyboards) is performed by the multi-instrumentalist leader.  The strength of Team B's debut lies primarily in Pratt's diverse songwriting. The lounge-pop opener "On My Mind" features a roaring, distorted trumpet solo and Mahoney's impressive drumming. The driving guitars and organ of "No Purchase Necessary" evoke Weezer and Ween more...