Into Music Reviews: The Tea Street Band LP – Frequency

The Tea Street Band released their second studio album earlier this month. Frequency follows up on the band’s self-titled release from 2014. The four-year gap between albums definitely hasn’t made the band lose any of their edge, but just maybe they have gained a little extra swagger with this dazzling electronic soundtrack.

The four friends from Merseyside have delivered an 11-track kaleidoscopic musical feast layering synth-based hooks, dance beats and indie guitar riffs, all rounded off with a mantra-like calling on vocals.

The band is made up of Timo Tierney on vocals and guitar, Nick Otaegui on bass and vocals, Lee Smith on guitar and synth, and Dom Allen on Drums. The year they spent in the studio has allowed them to play with new sounds and effects that are on full display throughout the album. The output of their efforts is a sound fusion that leads you on a dream-like sequence from one track to the next.

Put the album on, close your eyes and you could either be in the middle of a strobe lighting-filled club session, kicking back in the chill-out room, rocking centre-stage or on the neon light-lined car journey home from a night of delirium.

The album is laced with some fabulous tracks that could have easily been used as singles and that is what is so appealing about this release. Where we might find some albums maybe dipping after track 6 or 7, Frequency delivers from start to finish.

From the opening track, Givin it Back, you are slowly reeled in with a haunting synthesizer and electric guitar arrangement which develops in to a dance beat and melody. From there the album doesn’t let go.

Frequency has already delivered three singles with Feel It, Marseille Blues and Only Love. These tracks are testimony to the time spent in the studio perfecting the full range of what this new album offers. It also gives an insight to the collaboration between the band members and the progression from their debut album.

If the first single released, Feel It, were to appear on a Ministry of Sound chill-out playlist it wouldn’t be out of place and you would then spend time working out which DJ produced it. Marseille Blues leads with an electronica sound that quickly transforms into a euphoric indie/ dance track. The most recent single, Only Love, has the feel of a club mix with more then a hint of indie riffs and vocals.

The seamless blend of these tracks is an indication of the new confidence that the band have found. When you add in tracks like Hearts Collide, Taken it All, Coming Up and BFYH, the album genuinely hits all the right notes.

As part of this release, the four lads from Liverpool will be back on the road performing live and doing what they love best. A 14-night tour of the UK through November and December will see them travel the length and breadth of the land, putting on a show and spreading their new Mersey beat away from their heartlands of Liverpool and Manchester. Based on what I’ve heard from the album these shows are not to be missed.

Martin Donaldson