Mutemath

“Blood Pressure” MP3
from the album Odd Soul
2011
iTunes

Feeling abandoned isn’t exactly bliss. Whether you’re left alone after not making the cut for a dodgeball team in gym class or a one night stand’s heart, you’re left with questioning yourself and your beliefs. Thanks to the complete 720 Mutemath do on Odd Soul, their third effort in five years, it’s a feeling their most loyal listeners are going to unwillingly experience. But as many have proclaimed, change isn’t always bad. Ever since their birth in 2003, the New Orleans group have twisted a dynamic form of post-rock/electronica around alternative rock harmonies providing life to vivid statements like “Typical” and “Chaos.” It’s made the extremities of others appear average and yet it doesn’t seem to be enough for the quartet, partially due to how Odd Soul is extracted from every bit of the musical spectrum – a blinding spectacle even the instrumental piece “Sunray” seems to kick out in just over three minutes.

Opening up to funk smackdowns (“Walking Paranoia”), dreamy mainstream rock (“Equals”) and adrenaline-fueled bass taps (“Heads Up”) has given Mutemath the ability to compose with an immense amount of attraction. Though most of the recordings on Odd Soul take trips over the four minute mark, they battle length with risk as Paul Meany’s voice adds an imposing bite to “Allies” and spikes tedious ensembles such as “Quarantine.” Just don’t let the group’s new lust for being comprehensive incite pre-school comparisons; while the former track boasts rowdy blues riffs torn from the rough sessions of The Black Keys’ Magic Potion, Mutemath’s venture isn’t a change of clothes that should draw comparisons to Brothers. Meany and the rest the of group are letting growth and inspirations trace the outline of their new personality. Whether it sticks is a question to be asked, but for now, Odd Soul is worth spinning once, twice or four times until that “sinking in” feeling emerges with no clear way out.