Armistice

New album with new music

It is quite often that young performers start their career trying to deliver as many studio records as possible while there are vigor, energy and enthusiasm in them. There are many cases when the successful debut album becomes a sample that artists try to follow with the purpose to release as good records as this one. It is hard to overcome the temptation to use this old and well-tested method. Nevertheless, the American group chose its own way and seems to have reached the desired goal. Their debut long player, Mute Math (2006), met such a warm welcome that the long-term tour afterwards left the group with many fans in each state of America willing to see them over and over again. Supporters demanded the soonest release of a subsequent record that they deemed to be a logical sequel of Mute Math. Yet the band did not rush to the studio. Armistice, their sophomore effort, arrived only in the summer of 2009. Once you hear it, a deep impression may appear that Mute Math have been on the stage for about a decade and recorded some five albums already. It is all about the maturity and proficiency of the new album. The musicians put it clear that Armistice is in no way a repetition of the best parts of the debut work, but an entirely different piece that represents the band in its new shape.

More maturity, professionalism and attractiveness in Mute Math

It should not be a surprise to you. All the four members of Mute Math have grown professionally and enhanced their song writing skills. This became possible after they discovered new possibilities of their instruments. Greg Hill is very attentive to where his guitar should build a powerful background for the other parts or should be advanced to the central place like what you hear on Spotlight. Roy Mitchell-Cardenas utilizes his bass to turn simply pop-tunes into funky and catchy indie-rock pieces. Seems like he’s the master of the Mute Math musical temper while his acoustic bass becomes the main thing in Pins and Needles, which is a rarity for bassists working hard for the good of the others. Darren King manages to make his drum kit both the rhythm machine for the other musicians and an independent instrument with its own interesting passages, which is showcased by the long Burden. Finally, Paul Meany’s keyboards create the general atmosphere and do it well from the start to the very end. Meanwhile, Meany’s vocals are an even more notable aspect. He may sing as passionately and dramatically as in The Nerve, and may easily switch to falsetto as in the above mentioned Burden. The lyrics of Mute Math have also matured. Uneasy verses on self-deception, broken words and feelings with no response form one important idea that the musicians of Mute Math carry over to us: our world is what we are building, which is the central theme in, perhaps, the album’s most profound song, The Nerve.

Armistice: genre is nothing, music is everything

We sometimes come across such bands. Bands like Mute Math. These guys did not hesitate to try something new after an impressive debut and broadened the boundaries of their own style with the preservation of all the energy and sincerity the whole American people liked them for. It just could be that the strongest side of Armistice is that this music is a perfect match to live concerts giving an opportunity to let out everything you got inside, and for the thoughtful listening at home. It has unexpected instrumental solutions just as well as striking lines about what seems to have been discussed and speculated many times before. That’s what a real good rock-album should be, yet the wonder of Armistice is that it’s going to please far more than only rock-music followers. Fusing rock and pop, Mute Math are good at staying away from banalities, worn out solutions and tricks, being able to find space for the realization of their own ideas. This release demonstrated the abundance of such ideas and the highest professional level that makes them a part of reality. We could assume that it will be followed by another massive tour with the subsequent studio work to surface after several years of anticipation. However, if the next Mute Math album is just as good as Armistice, then it’s worth waiting for.