Forming in 2006 out of the divine entrails of a local hardcore band, Omaha’s The Answer Team has evolved to incorporate a range of seemingly-impossible influences: from lush guitars, violins, and bass lines to raucous beats, distortion and feedback, the band conquers (and is conquered by) unknown territories, madness and beauty. The songs have been compared to journeys where the destination doesn’t matter so much as the trouble you get into on the way there. And they can get into a lot of trouble. Lyrically, the band deals with fathers lost to suicide; the primacy of science in the science-religion wars; flights from pain and responsibility; and something else nobody can quite put their finger on. In summer 2008, The Answer Team recorded a three song instrumental EP, Dead Letter Office, which showcased their distinctive synthesis of disparate sounds: baroque pop, melodic hardcore, classical music and even dirty blues. Dead Letter Office received praise from various blogs and faraway fans, and after playing show after show to steadily increasing numbers of people, the band has generated a healthy buzz in Omaha and Poland, the latter thanks to the internet. Dear Poland, we will come for you. The band has endured spate of lineup changes that would have completely discouraged a more reasonable group of people, but the love of music inspired them to keep writing and playing passion-filled shows. Like all good bands, The Answer Team looks good too, but that’s not the point—is in fact accidental to their mission. And while their sound continually morphs and evolves, often within the course of a single song, the band strives not to achieve some easily marketable style, but to make enduring music, for they have risen above mere shtick to the arena of the gods. Take that, Ting Tings.