Half a decade in the making, Team Sleep’s debut album offers itself up as a cult favourite amongst dedicated fans. For everyone else, the CD only shakily clears the high jump bar of innovation. This is not to say that Chino Moreno’s pet project is entirely lackluster. Working with DJ Crook, Pinback’s Rob Crow, and Hella’s Zach Hill and Mary Timony, Deftone’s front man manages some stunners.
The soft indie-esque sounds of “Princeton Review”, “Our Ride To The Rectory”, “Elizabeth”, and “11-11” generate a mellow stream of consciousness. Unlike most tracks on the album, these songs allow lyrics rather than instrumentals to possess the spotlight, thus conveying unadulterated and natural sentiment.
“Ever” and “Tomb of Legia” demonstrate mastery of slow haunting melody. On a more negative note, the vocals show short range; heavy inhale and exhale also cloud lyrics that otherwise achieve lush sensuality.
The mostly acoustic filler tracks, “Delorian” and “Paris Arm”, begin as welcome breaks from the more overpowering “Blvd. Knights” and “Your Skull Is Red” but soon become repetitive and uninteresting; Moreno’s talents could have been put to better use here.
Unlike the majority of the non-Indie songs, “Ataraxia”, “Ever Since WWI” and “King Diamond” maintain an eclectic intensity that avoids being shadowed by an instrumental and vocal imbalance.
Ultimately, “Team Sleep” is a sub-climatic collection of songs whose bipolar tendencies induce quality transmutations from glittering gold to rusty copper.
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