Mates Of State: Bring It Back Calum Marsh

Mates Of State Bring It Back Barsuk Records - 2006 Rating: 7.8 I wake up and turn on my computer monitor, noticing when I do a messenger conversation window, which bears a one-line message: "heard the new Mates Of State album?" "Sure haven't", I respond, adding after a moment, "I'm not that interested, to be honest. They're not that great". Bad idea. A few hours later, I get another message from a different friend, asking me the same question. "No", I reply, again adding that I'm not bothered. This time I don't get off so easily: "What? How the hell could you not like them?" And so started the great debate. I talked for hours, with a few friends, about good bands versus good albums. What do I mean by that? Well, for me, I need a solid album before I can get into a group. There are a ton of artists with talent, but unless they can apply that to one solid recording, I'm less than impressed. Mates Of State were that kind of band. Key word: were. Yep, as I've said before, Mates Of State are no longer the fun pop duo with a couple good songs; they're now the fun pop group who just recorded a solid album. Like The Fiery Furnaces (who do more effectively, but that's not the point), The Mates have a knack for ecclectic recordings, which is a quality I always enjoy and frequently admire. But where the Furnaces excel most is in how they manage to be ecclectic without digressing too far from the point. Mates, on the other hand, usually end up falling apart in this area; the albums just aren't solid enough to withstand repeated listenings. Bring It Back, then, is exactly the album the Mates needed to make. They manage to control their wild impulses and have written, instead of a messy song-for-song disc as they have in the past, a surprisingly solid album that feels like exactly that: an album. If an arguement can be made for cohesiveness as the most important aspect of a record, this is the album to prove it. While in the past the discs sound like songs collected arbitrarily, here we have a record wherein I couldn't imagine dropping a track. Each song needs to be here, in this order, and that's a rare solidarity to acheieve. Bring It Back opens wonderfully with 'Think Long', which immediately showcases the band's new maturity. The track begins quaintly, with light percussion over the usual Mates-instrumentation. The boy-with-girl vocal layering remains intact, too, but somehow it's different - more adult, more immediate and purposeful. The song climax is terrific, and when I first heard I spent the whole three minutes wondering hoping to God it would stay this incredible throughout. It doesn't, mind you, but the drop-off after 'Think Long' isn't that bad - it's a slight disappointment, to be sure, but the quality of the second track (which is relatively high, in its own way) remains constant through to the end of the album. There are virtually no peaks or valleys, save for the triumphant beginning, which further enforces the cohesive side of things. Fans will be pleased to know that their reliable sound hasn't altered at all, just grown. It's noticeably different, but only in that it sounds like an album from a band who has just matured - a lot. Perhaps the most obvious change (or progression) is the relatively slow pace. Being that they're more "grown up", the Mates have gotten a tad darker and a lot less carefree. There are swelling strings, and soaring vocals, which, as clichéd as it may be, comes off as sincere. This works, particularly on closer Running Out, with the endearing closing refrain "I'm tired of singing". That maturity and slow pace translates to emotional resonance, which is an element the Mates previously went without. Praise aside, there's still room for improvement here: occasionally the band gets too serious for their own good, losing their charm as a result. But who wants to nit-pick? This is a surprisingly solid album from a band who (I suspect) always had it in them. It's too bad that the whole thing isn't 'Think Long' quality, but the fact that they've learned now how to make a proper album leads me to believe that a great album is yet to come. Download: Mates Of State - Think Long Mates Of State - Like U Crazy Buy: Mates Of State - Bring It Back