★★★★☆
“I’ll believe it when I see it” was the attitude of many Mutemath fans hoping for a fourth studio album from the New Orleans alt-rockers.
After a four year hiatus, Vitals is the band’s well-crafted response to what it’s been dilly-dallying with for so long – a new electro rock sound.
After marriages, management shifts and the departure of a member, it’s unsurprising the 12 tracks on Vitals reflect, in substance and style, transition and a return to the essentials. ‘Joy Rides’, ‘Light Up’ and ‘Monument’ herald the album’s synth-soaked trajectory in The Police meets Mylo Xyloto fashion. Funk-fused guitar riffs have given way to percussive strumming, off-kilter rhythms have been soothed to groove-inducing beats and complex musical flourishes abandoned for Paul Meany’s vocals to shine. It’s a cohesive collection of foot-stompers and swelling ambient numbers.
‘All I See’ and ‘Remain’ highlight the delicacy of Meany’s falsetto, while ‘Composed’ describes, with gripping lyrical rawness, the vulnerability experienced after a panic attack.
Sure, there’s one too many slow-builders and a nostalgic itch for a manic Darren King drum fill, but it’s a wholly surprising, sharp and infectious album.
Mutemath’sVitalsis out through Sony.
