The Away Team

“Give and Take” by the Away Team, from The Away Team (self-released):

The Away Team is actually a hometown squad, featuring the sort of polite young men you can trust your daughter with. This is a band that recently changed its MySpace quote to “Feels for the victims of the China quakes!” This sensitivity comes through in the trio’s ballads, which range from brooding, arena-sized lighter lifters (“Weird Situation”) to whispery acoustic numbers (“Buckle” and “Show The Way”). During the chugging midtempo tracks, the Away Team puts aspects of the Kansas City sound (specifically, Shiner’s hazy harmonies and stop-and-start riffs) through a commercializing filter, and the songs emerge with alt-radio-ready choruses. Singer Jeff Limer favors easily grasped refrains such as I never learn from my mistakes and Ready or not/Here we go again/All by myself. The group throws in a few twists, including a graceful piano coda and some smart melodic downturns, but for the most part this full-length debut delivers pleasant, anthem rock in the Foo Fighters vein, the type of broadly appealing songs that should play as well on the road as they do in local clubs.