MuteMath's new album is a bit of a paradox for me. Like their other albums, I find that its not fully complete, and slightly disjointed. The songs are short, and press hard on sounding 80s pop. The songs on the album don't always flow well from one to the other. Like their previous album, I find that the songs that are good are REALLY good, but the songs that aren't good, aren't really even okay. After the first few initial listens of the album, I've already gotten to where I skip over a few of the songs.
Armistice starts off with "The Nerve", which at first listened really turned me off automatically. It has since grown on me, but the song does not represent the rest of the album accurately, which should be the main goal of the opening track. "Backfire", the second track, is much more representative of the overall feel of this album, and is a solid song on top of it. Its sort of Armistice's "Peculiar People." For the next track, "Clipping", MuteMath tries to tone things down, which is not something they usually do convincingly (the rare exception is "Progress" from their Reset EP, which is one of my all-time favorite songs). Its a good song, it just doesn't seem genuine.
"Spotlight", the first single from the album, kicks things back into gear. This is a radio friendly song that does what it needs to do. It brings energy to the album and will bring new fans to the band. Its not the greatest song they've recorded, but its not a song I skip when listening to Armistice. The next song, "No Response", zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....oh, I'm sorry, where was I? "Pins and Needles" is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The music itself is okay, nothing really special. But the lyrics are very moving. "Sometimes I get tired of pins and needles/ Facades are a fire on my skin/ Oh, I'm growing fond of broken people/ As I see that I am one of them". Amazing insight into how we all play roles in our daily lives, and very rarely ever get to be our true selves.
"Goodbye" is upbeat, with a sound remeniscent of early U2. It wouldn't surprise me to hear this song as another single from the album. "Odds" isn't a standout on this album, and I'm probably in the minority, but its one of my favorites on the album. A beautiful look at having to make a difficult decision.
"Electrify" is a high energy song about desire for another. It is one of my favorites on the album. Paul Meany's voice really shines through on this track. Armistice is another stand out song. Bringing in the brass band makes this song slightly remeniscent of Radiohead's "National Anthem". "Lost Year" is another MuteMath style ballad that is one I usually fast forward through. Its a song about losing the love in a relationship that started out great, and it just comes across as forced. The last song, "Burden", is my favorite on the album. When Meany starts screaming "I just can't hold it together" I just want to scream out with him at the top of my lungs. It is a moment of almost perfect music. And just when you think its finished, drummer Darren King just goes crazy and ushers in the final 4:30 slow down before going crazy one more time to finish up the album.
If you are a die-hard fan of the album, you'll buy it no matter what I say. If you aren't a die-hard fan, but have heard "Spotlight" and are curious, its worth a pickup. In the context of MuteMath's body of work, it is the weakest of their releases, but considering their debut cd and the Reset EP, that doesn't mean its a bad album.
No comments:
Post a Comment