Emerging from the ashes of the Christian band
Earthsuit,
Mute Math might have you thinking they've gone the post-rock route with
"Collapse," the instrumental opener on the band's self-titled debut. With its hypnotic rhythms, droning synths, and extraterrestrial guitar noodlings, the song sounds like a long-lost collaboration between
Tortoise and
Brian Eno. But once the anthemic, arena-ready rock groove of
"Typical" kicks in, with vocalist/keyboardist
Paul Meany sounding like a dead ringer for
Peter Gabriel fronting
U2 at their most accessible, it becomes clear that this quartet has higher aspirations.
The band lists experimental artists such as
Bjoerk and
DJ Shadow among their influences, and it's the unexpected ways in which those stylistic quirks rear their heads that makes
Mute Math more compelling than your typical modern rockers. The musical dialogue between
Darren King's off-kilter beats,
Roy Mitchell-Cardenas' dub-influenced bassline, and
Meany's synth squiggles on
"Chaos" recalls
the Police circa
Reggatta de Blanc, while the spacy trippiness of
"Stare at the Sun" comes off like a more radio-friendly outtake from
Radiohead's
OK Computer. Listening to their debut, you may find yourself wishing
Mute Math would take their sound even further to the experimental extreme. For all the band's intriguing stylistic flourishes, at times their poppy sound has more in common with
Sting's bland adult contemporary work of recent years, lacking the power and passion that make their best songs explode with energy. But when they do hit their stride, you get the sense that these guys are gonna be huge, even if you wish they'd be willing to toil in experimental obscurity a little while longer. ~ Bret Love
