Izzy Morris
The Go! Team have returned, still just as bright eyed and bushy tailed as they were in their debut, ‘Thunder, Lightning Strike’, all the way back in 2004. The Brighton sextet continue to impress with their latest release, ‘Get Up Sequences Part Two’, the sequel to their 2021 record. This album shines, packed with plenty of earworms and the kaleidoscopic, sunshine-bright soundscapes fans have come to expect from the group. Izzy Morris reviews.
Frontman Ian Parton labelled the album ‘a global fruit salad’, and just on first bite alone, this is entirely made clear. The album commences with Look Away, Look Away, a track entirely in French, featuring Benin-based group The Star Feminine Band. This collective consists of a group of singers between the ages of 12 and 19 and was formed by the father of two of the girls in an attempt to change the treatment of girls in Benin. Upon hearing about this collective, The Go! Team were intrigued and immediately wanted to collaborate. In doing so, they struck gold. The track perfectly opens the record, even for those that don’t understand French. It’s funky, fun but still retains a charged quality that we see throughout the record. The energy is present right from the get go, and so it only makes sense that that same sense of life can be found in their collaborators (of which the album has many!)
The collective return later for The Me Frequency which continues to impress, making use of gorgeous group harmonies amongst a colourful background of steel pans, recorders and kalimbas. It feels like a patchwork project in the best possible way. The Go! Team experiment throughout the record, as they always do with as many textures, flavours and ideas as possible but it never feels like they’re lacking vision. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they do it with style.
The explosive Divebomb is a rousing call to action that is equal parts catchy and punchy, combining lazer guns, alarm sounds and an incredibly memorable piano motif carrying on through. It also features the talents of Detroit rapper IndigoYaj to challenge the threats to the bodily autonomy of women in America. This is a new breed of protest song; challenging the big issues in a creative and yet still entirely in your face way. It is quite simply an electric track, and perfectly helps to set the tone for the album – combining a sense of fun with political messaging in the unique Go! Team style.
The vocals here have a beautiful aspirance and what feels like a dream-like effect, with elongated violin-esque synths and more woodwind, that completely characterises the work of The Go! Team
We then go from that explosiveness to a more toned down reflective track. Getting to Know (All The Ways We’re Wrong For Each Other) is another incredibly catchy song about not identifying with your country as you grow up. The wind section adds a gorgeous sense of reflection, and the Jackson 5-esque bass riffs, particularly in the second half of the track, help create a real grooviness, almost as though you’re walking through a city remembering all the good things, but still moving on. It’s a really brilliant walking album because even while it tackles difficult themes, it is ultimately filled with sunshine, and summons a great deal of serotonin throughout.
But We Keep On Trying shows a similar dissatisfaction, but this time towards votes not going the way that you want them to. The song addresses where results are disappointing, but encourages listeners not to give up, but instead to keep throwing our weight behind what we believe in, even when things seem completely hopeless. The track offers a simultaneous shared frustration and sympathy while still remaining upbeat. While on the more repetitive side, which the further down you get in the album seems to happen more, the track remains enjoyable and once again adds that pep in your step.
The highlight of the second half of the album is undoubtably Gemini; a bright, dazzling blast of colour that takes the braggadocious part of rap music and takes it one step further, to the stars, loud enough to be heard ‘cross the milky way’. Ninja’s energetic and highly conceptualized flow on the track is exciting and punchy, leaping out admist the beautiful chaos instrumentally. Jam-packed with synths, theremins, more lazers and the kitchen sink, this maximalist track has their unique blend of spice, flair and zest while still remaining cohesive.
Train Song, the penultimate song on ‘Get Up Sequences Part Two’, brings the energy back down to a lower point, using the sound of a train moving as its percussion, alongside train horns and twangy guitar sounds reminiscent of small town America. That idea of leaving what was once home is very well communicated in this way. Once again, this is an album that travels all around the world and takes you with it. Wrapping up with Baby, a song that is just as groovy as many of the other tracks on the record. The vocals here have a beautiful aspirance and what feels like a dream-like effect, with elongated violin-esque synths and more woodwind, that completely characterises the work of The Go! Team. It definitely isn’t one of the titans on the album though, so I may have preferred to have one of the more exciting/interesting tracks round the album out. That being said, it’s certainly not a bad one.
All in all, ‘Get Up Sequences Part Two’ is an absolute triumph. It retains its vibrant psychedelia with its cosmic concoctions. The best way I can think to describe the album is quite simply as charming. More than anything else, it makes me smile and it makes me want to move. It’s as simple as that. The Go! Team have mastered the art of
collaboration, both with other creatives and also the melding and merging of genres, ideas, instruments, styles… they’re creative geniuses and they show no sign of stopping.
Izzy Morris
Featured image courtesy of Alex Watkin. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article video courtesy of @itsthegoteam via Instagram.com. No changes were made to this video.
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