As spring is arriving, you may think now is the perfect time to build a garden. However, after a few hours in a hot sun getting covered in dirt may remind you that building a garden is not the easiest thing to do. Even with all your prep work, the seeds might not take root and you’ll run into a weed problem in a few days. It is kind of similar to the process of releasing an album. You may think anybody could do it, but after a few hours of work and sweat, you may end up with your songs but, like a garden, you have to watch out for those bad weeds. 
Minnesota indie pop group One for the Team knows firsthand the struggles after recording and mixing their own albums in their Minneapolis apartment. Their previous release Build It Up was a fun lo-fi gem, but the production quality, like a weed, seemed to choke out some of the life of the songs. Perhaps that is why on their latest release Build a Garden, they decided to pair four new songs with re-recordings of four songs from Build It Up.
Of the re-recorded songs, “Questions and Panthers”, “Best Supporting Actor”, “Cry” and “Oh No”, they keep it lo-fi, but the recordings have significantly improved and not just in quality. It’s kind of ironic that the recording quality went up when some of the electronic elements from a song like “Questions and Panthers” was dropped. This song was already one of my favorites from their previous release, but they made it tighter both lyrically and instrumentally–a commonality for all the songs they reworked. While I have always loved “Questions and Panthers”, “Cry” had bored me before. Now that it has been tightened up with a nice guitar-line that keeps it moving, it is much more listenable. If Garden State weren’t already released, these would have been perfect additions to the soundtrack.
Of the new songs, “Best Supporting Actress”, “Yard”, “Garden” and “Ha Ha”, though all delightfully charming, some were more stand out than others. I could have done without “Yard”, which sounded like the audio was recorded through a wall of jello, but fortunately they made up for the lack of quality in that song with the others. None stand out more than “Best Supporting Actress”. Grace Fiddler’s vocal harmonies with Ian Anderson stand out a bit more on this song and together, they sound a bit like the gang vocals of Tilly and the Wall. Instrumentally, the guitar riff in this song seems like it was lifted right out of a Rogue Wave song, which fits well with the vocal stylings. I could have listened to this song over and over.
In conclusion, it’s simple, but sweet and you’ll shake your hips. Give One for the Team a listen.
Build a Garden is available on Afternoon Records on March 31, 2009.
Tracklisting:
01. Questions and Panthers
02. Best Supporting Actress
03. Best Supporting Actor
04. Yard
05. Garden
06. Ha Ha
07. Cry
08. Oh No
One for the Team: website | myspace
