Live Review: Team B @ Union Pool 11/10/08

At Team B's debut performance at Union Pool in Williamsburg, the band played at least a dozen different instruments, including flute, bassoon, ukulele and euphonium. For a group comprised of members of LCD Soundsystem, Beirut, Arcade Fire and a slew of other indie bands, this level of musical diversity is merely par for the course. But while the players' comfort level was high, the night saw an unusual amount of downtime between songs, lots of tuning and a general lack of finesse. 

Lead singer Kelly Pratt, who's trumpeted for both Arcade Fire and Beirut, made a point to say how "shitty" he played after each instrument swap, and there was a definite feeling that the songs were being crafted and refined before our eyes. But this didn't seem to affect the forgiving crowd, which sang along to Team B's apparent first single, the catchy ode to infatuation, "On My Mind.” The song seems to be Pratt's most coherent work to date, and while his vocals may not measure up to his Beirut counterpart Zach Condon, his songwriting chops are definitely up to snuff. The audience even tolerated an exceedingly drunk friend of the band who yelled through most of the show and who was rewarded with an impromptu rendition of "Happy Birthday" (complete with a "sexy tenor sax solo" by Beirut and Stars Like Fleas' Jon Natchez) that explained her festive mood.
 
It should be expected that an odds-and-ends indie supergroup like this would grow into a more cohesive unit in time, but with the members' busy schedules with other projects, it may not happen as soon as new fans would like. No tour or future dates have been announced, but the still-unsigned Team B's self-released debut is available for purchase via their MySpace page.

Related links:
1,000 Words: Team B - New York, NY - Union Pool - 11/10/08
News: Arcade Fire, Beirut, LCD members form Team B, play live
News: Beirut to release pair of EPs in February