Of all the bands I follow, Mutemath probably has the highest potential to delivery ratio, their first two records featuring one or two amazing singles followed by a metric assload of filler. Although it landed pretty quietly with no real breakout single a la "Typical", Odd Soul is generally a huge improvement, with a much higher proportion of quirky, solid songs. My praise is a bit qualified by Mutemath's finding their muse mostly in other contemporary bands interested in similar sounds. Plenty of people have remarked on the title track's (and I would add "Tell Your Heart Heads Up"'s) resemblance to the Black Keys, with their big bluesy riffs and talk-sung vocals. As well, "Blood Pressure" sounds uncannily like a Christian-rock re-write of Gomez' song "Blind" right down to the vocal harmony on the verse, while "In No Time" sounds like it owes quite a lot to "Butterfly" from the same b-sides compilation. That's ok as far as it goes: Mutemath adopt an energetic and endearingly straightlaced approach to the material, and frankly I prefer any of the aforementioned four tracks (especially "Tell Your Heart") to more classic Mutemathy-sounding jams like "Equals" or "All or Nothing", though even these would rank pretty high among previous Mutemath album tracks. Further, Darren King's drumming really shines as does Roy Cardenas' bass, creating tight, intricate grooves for Meany's keyboards and vocals. With all the elements in place, I can imagine these guys making a classic record next time out, but for me this invites too many comparisons to quite be it.
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