Winging support slots for the Arcade Fire and the Walkmen, propped up by the sharp production of Mike McCarthy, and hailing from Austin’s revered indie community, home to Spoon and At The Drive-In, Sound Team’s well-placed connections might cloud one into thinking that “Born to Please,” and it’s accompanying full-length Movie Monster, are good. The truth, though, is that this single is a rotten car crash of immaculately conceived influences, eschewing stylistic cross-fertilization for a wholly predictable re-hash of regurgitated anachronisms. “Born to Please” is all dour guitars and morose melodies, bereft of the intuitiveness that their peers ply on a regular basis. The song feels cynically constructed to cater to an “audience” that has surely grown bored with chewing on its self-reflexive, glitter-laden tailbone.

permanent link ::