teamAWESOME!

For a band that performs live music with such fun-loving, reckless abandon, teamAWESOME! always seems to put out well-recorded, tightly played albums. At the same time, the act manages to preserve the sense of playfulness and fun that accompanies its shows — and Burnt Siena is no exception. Chuck Potashner shows his growth as a songwriter on songs such as “Train,” a curiously soulful pop-jazz tune with adult themes of relationships reflected through a childlike, emotional lens. And while the album contains the same whimsical character that has always made teamAWESOME! so charming, the music is more richly imagined than the group’s previous efforts, mostly thanks to Potashner, a gifted and versatile vocalist who’s capable of tuneful singing as well as cathartic bursts of distorted release.