“My Only Offer” from Mates of States’ new album Re-Arrange Us. The whole album is great and is full of all the quick time changes and upbeat themes that make Mates of State awesome. It almost sounds like one continuous song.
Also, here is a great article about Mates of State in New York Magazine.
For all my mistrust of their perky good life, the only thing preventing my inner jury from hanging Gardner and Hammel is Re-Arrange Us, Mates of State’s fifth album, out this week on Barsuk. Early releases like My Solo Project, from 2000, and Our Constant Concern, from 2002, struck me as virtually unlistenable: Hammel bashing out jarring rhythms on his drum kit, Gardner honking and baying on a beefy organ, and the two of them shouting excited harmonies and cryptic lyrics on top of one another. It felt like psychedelic math homework. Bring It Back, from 2006, was more melodic and less stressful, but Re-Arrange Us is a bona fide breakthrough. Gardner and Hammel have opened up their sound, adding cello, trumpet, bass, and guitar to the mix; Gardner’s also traded in her organ for piano, lending new delicacy to the arrangements. The vocals are breathy and sweet instead of antsy; the orchestral textures and multipart harmonies evoke the Beach Boys’ 1966 landmark, Pet Sounds, with Gardner a long-lost Wilson sister. Mates of State admit that suburban living has helpfully mellowed their music. “I want to make sense,” Gardner says. “I want people to relate to us. It’s way harder to write a concise, meaningful pop song than it is to write chaotic rock songs.”
“Like our old ten-parters,” Hammel chimes in.
“We don’t even know what those songs were about,” Gardner says. “When we hear our old stuff, we’re like—”
“‘What were we thinking?’”
“Major ADD.”
While I don’t really agree with the writer about Mates of State’s older albums, it’s true that their sound is much more refined now. Their previous albums had an erratic sense of urgency coupled with overwhelming optimism that was needed 5 or 6 years ago after most of us were tiring of the sad, melodic music we’d been immersed in since the late 90s. It’s what set them apart in the sea of emerging indie rock bands — a unique, of-the-moment kind of sound, that despite some dark themes, was uplifting.
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