Noise Pollution

Artist: Mute Math

Album: Mute Math

Label: Teleprompt/Warner Bros. 2006

Formed out of the disbandment of the Christian rock band Earthsuit, the New Orleans based Indie-pop quartet, Mute Math, goes heavy on the pop and holds a lot of the Indie, on their debut for Warner Brother Records. The album begins with the intriguing, drum/synth based, instrumental “Collapse”, before transitioning beautifully into the inspiring and hard hitting “Typical”, which then transfers over to the Postal Service inspired “After We Have Left Our Homes”, and then… that’s about it. The album seems to just drop off after that point. Despite a strong beginning this album quickly looses focus, and never again achieves the high points it did in its opening moments. This is a frustrating development and does much to create a sense of apathy in the listener regarding the remainder of the album.

What makes the lack of achievement on Mute Math’s self-titled so frustrating is that the remaining tracks aren’t terrible, and would make great filler between stronger songs. The issue here is that besides the initial single “Typical”, there aren’t really any strong or memorable tracks to be had. With nothing to really hold the listeners interest, most of the songs end up sounding like cop-outs, with Indie noise layered sloppily over predictable guitar riffs and drum beats. None of the bands more experimental tendencies, compliment their pop-rock formula, creating almost two distinct entities; that the band then tries to synergize with very mixed results. In the end, the good there is to be had, is matched by the group’s short comings, resulting in an enjoyable but otherwise unremarkable listening experience that comes hard to recommend.

Score: 5 out of 10

Check them out by following this link to their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mutemath