Minneapolis-based quintet One for the Team offers a healthy dose of sunshine on its sophomore album, Build It Up. The album, which first dropped this past summer, serves up a dozen tracks of jangly power pop, with glimmering unisex harmonies that offer a welcome balm to the wintry weather.
Ian Anderson (not to be confused with the frontman for Jethro Tull) and Grace Fiddler share vocal duties in One for the Team, providing the bulk of the charm on Build it Up. The album was written by the gifted, and apparently tireless, Anderson. Just in his early 20s, he's also an author, publicist, producer, and runs his own label, Afternoon Records. Anderson recently graduated with an English degree from St. Olaf College.
One For The Team has helped turn Anderson's acoustic pop into something driven wonderfully by crunchy guitars and soaring synths. "Best Supporting Actor" is one of the standout tracks, for its irresistibly catchy rhythms. A few songs later, "A Better Job" shows off One for the Team's youthful spirit as Fiddler and Anderson sing, "Let's move to Brooklyn together / We'll both get internships at Matador Records." It's an unabashed optimism that manages to be contagious without being overly precious or earnest.
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