Math The Band The Band have come from nowhere to release one
of my favourite albums (The Album) of the year! This six-piece from Rhode
Island New York have been around since 2001 and have toured with the likes of
Andrew WK, Wheatus and MC Lars. This might not sound like the punkest thing
ever but you just have to check this album out.
The opening song on The Album is called All We Are and it
greets you with a synthesizer-led pop punk track. My first thought on hearing
the track was "this reminds me of Bomb The Music Industry!", which
was great because I loved that band. I enjoyed the sense that anything possible
could happen during the song and their fantastic ability to write catchy pop
tunes. Not Gonna Fight starts with a more traditional pop punk beginning, with
the lead singer shouting out the opening lines accompanied by guitars. Soon
enough the rest of the band join in and everything goes along as you’d think it
should, until midway when a female vocal is introduced for the first time! It's
very "new-wavey" but fits into the song really well. The third song is
called Jake Says. Vocally this song is more restrained than the previous two
songs, with the synths really taking the lead during the track, at times
reminding me of something from corny old sci-fi movies. I Didn't Have Time To
Think is the longest track on The Album at over five minutes long. Sometimes
when a song is longer it feels like it drags, happily this one doesn't. There
are so many different elements packed into the song; male and female vocals, a
catchy chorus, keys, synths, crunching guitars, thumping guitars, loads! The
song really shows off what a talented bunch Math The Band The Band are.
Tour de Friends starts out rather oddly with someone gurgling
before launching into a blisteringly fast pop punk ditty. The vocals on the
song remind me of Nick Woods of Direct Hit! in the way that they are delivered;
fast, intense and with plenty of venom. The sixth song BFFU is ridiculously
fun. It's one of the rowdiest songs I've heard in a long time with everything
played as fast as possible. The vocals come from every conceivable direction
and it just makes me want to dance as fast as possible. This is definitely a
song that I really need to see play live as I imagine it would get a great
reaction. Things are reined in on Why Didn't You Get A Haircut? The song is
about making more of an effort to get to where you want to go in life. As
someone who very often looks homeless this is something I can really relate to.
I really loved the female harmonies throughout the track, making a fairly
serious song much more fun. The penultimate song Take It Back ramps the tempo
back up but also shows a lot less of the musical anarchy that was displayed
throughout The Album. It's another synth-led song that really makes me want to
dance. The vocals in the verse are very punchy and move at an impressive tempo
and I like that it feels like there is a chorus but there are no actual words,
just a fun tune to dance to. The Album finishes off with a track titled Four To
Six. This song is another one that starts off slightly restrained, with even
the dual vocals being toned down. The whole song is impossible not to try and
sing along with as it has some catchy lyrics. It feels like the song is
building towards a huge ending but it doesn't, it just stops and so does The
Album. I actually really like that it does that, the whole album does what you
don't really expect so it feels like a fitting way to finish.
Stream and buy The Album here: https://maththeband.bandcamp.com/album/math-the-band-the-band-the-album
Like Math The Band here: https://www.facebook.com/maththeband
No comments:
Post a Comment