Team Me: To the Treetops!

    One of the most promising areas of the world when it comes to Pop music, is the Nordic countries. I'd be remiss, as I just found out on Wikipedia, to refer to them as Scandinavia, which is only used in reference to Norway, Sweden and Denmark; because I want to include Iceland and Finland in this grouping--though more specifically, in this case, Norway. I say all this, obviously subjectively, because their definition of Pop music is far from Britney Spears, Katie Perry and Justin Beiber. Lucky them. Post-Rock is the norm and I should think the likes of Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Björk and Rubik are household names.
    Team Me is a group from Oslo (originally Elverum) that came together perhaps unexpectedly and has gradually risen in notoriety since their debut performance at a "battle of the bands" sort of shindig called Urørtfinalen in 2010. At the time, while chosen to perform, they did not actually exist officially, but Marius Drogsås Hagen, the songwriter and leader quickly gathered a group of friends together and they played the competition. Despite not winning, they immediately received recognition for their songs and radios picked them up. As most music spreads these days through blogs, YouTube, etc...so did Team Me's music and they quickly found themselves becoming popular. They signed to Propeller Recordings, a small Norwegian label, in 2011 and put out an initial self-titled EP, which reached both the UK and the U.S. To the Treetops! (October 14, 2011) won them a coveted Norwegian Spellemannprisen for "Best Pop Group of the Year" in 2011. It's U.S. release was in March of 2012. That same year, Team Me performed at SXSW, following which, British music magazine, NME, named them "one of their 10 new favorite bands".
    Some interesting reads on Team Me include a review of To the Treetops! at "The Line of Best Fit" blog, here. It gives a good idea of what their music is made up of. Also mentioned in the article is how one member, Synne Øverland Knudsen left the band because they were going to be nominated an award by a Norwegian energy company called Statoil. I guess Statoil has had its share of corruption or scandals and environmentalists lobbying against it. Check that out on Statoil's Wikipedia entry, here. An interesting and telling list of Team Me's influences can be found on their MySpace page, if you click "more" under the 'General Info' portion of their profile page, here. Included are (but not limited to): Sufjan Stevens, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Björk and Broken Social Scene--all of which you will hear some of in their music at various times.
    Taking a closer look at their album, To the Treetops!, you'll hear lots of different classical instruments, piano/synth, driving rhythms and chorus vocals with plenty of grandstanding (remember that term I "coined"?). Their underlining rhythmic nature is somewhat repetitive, with heavy drums contributing, but what makes it worthwhile is how it is comprised of woodwinds, piano and other twinkling elements like bells. There are reprises (like a reprise from the storm, not repeats) too at various moments that take the listener away from the busy-ness and are fresh breathes of air. The song "Fool", for example, is gorgeous and simple at the beginning and portions throughout, with acoustic guitar, bells and other instruments. And, "Favorite Ghost" is semi haunting before it grows into a full blown cacophonous spree. There really is a good balance, with the next song, "Looking Through the Eyes of Sir Davis Brewster" (some of the names are really long and intriguing), which is sustained and warm.
    I really hope you find Team Me and To the Treetops! to your liking. Check some of their songs out on their MySpace, here. I've linked the song "Dear Sister" over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. Also, through various SoundCloud links, you can listen to these songs: "Show Me", "Weathervanes and Chemicals" and "With My Hands Covering Both of My Eyes I Am Too Scared To Have a Look At You Now". Yes that is a song title. Enjoy!