Mates Of State "Bring it Back" (Barsuk)
By Abel Folgar
Thursday. Apr 06, 3:16 AM
Believe in the power of love.

It is no secret that, when you're having relationship problems, the whole universe pitches itself seemingly against you. And before you go pegging me a total cheese-ball, know something: I have never felt stronger for someone in my entire life than what I feel right now, and I'm particularly pissed that every time I catch something in passing on the TV or radio or even the world-wide-fucking-web, it's something to do with happy couples holding hands and loving each other and planning their futures. Everything is happy. I should've guessed that when a super-duper advanced copy of the new Mates Of State album rolled in a whole month before its target release date that something was up in the fabric of all that which is out to make it bad. Were Mates Of State harbingers of my coming trials? Probably not, but I'll be damned if they don't spark a little jealousy in me.

At this point, I guess we're all hip enough to know that Mates Of State is the husband and wife combo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel: two individuals so madly in love with each other that they quit highly lucrative careers in the education and research fields to live out their matrimony on the road in the company of a drum set and an organ (as well as the harmonic balance of their voices). So, a shitload of 7"ers and (with this one) four full-lengths under their belts, as well as an addition to the family (I believe it was late in 2004 when MOS rolled through Miami with the fabulous Bishop Allen. Ms. Gardner had the bun in the oven: good show!), Mates Of State still continue what by all accounts is a highly successful symbiotic love life of support and artistic growth.

Maybe I'll never be able to tell fortunes based on the arrangement of chicken bones or shells or beer caps on silk linens. I might not be able to ever predicate the weather correctly... but I should've seen this one coming. And it is everything I can do to keep myself from crying here. Listening to the opener, "Think Long," I am wondering if showing up at The Woman Who I Love’s new apartment late at night with the local church choir, trying to reenact the closing minute of said song outside her window will go over as well as I have it in my head. That song, of course, is followed by the pseudo-new-wavy "Fraud in the '80s," which I suspect might be her fave on this slab since it soundtracks her MySpace page. I like this one too, kinda rocksteady and sci-fi. Don't ask: it feels like a Theremin oughtta be in there somewhere.

Maybe, like my friend Jesse and I discussed, dudes like us are never supposed to win. There are your Alpha Males… and then there are your Beta Males.

"Like U Crazy" is a nice first third slowdown and does not include any "chonganess" or IM lingo dumbness the title wording might imply. "Beautiful Dreamer" is an upbeat classic MOS composition that does not make me stop thinking of how I've tucked a beautiful woman into bed for the last four years with a sweet forehead kiss: something I'll miss with tears swelling in my eyes. "What it Means" is an odd, short track that recalls the Mello Yellow song and is followed by "For the Actor," another upbeat track with solid vocals gelled into the organ.

"Nature and the Wreck" is an atmospheric, somber number which seem a little odd for their catalogue, but is a nice tune nonetheless. The closing third of "So Many Ways," "Punchlines," and "Running Out" return the platter to usual MOS territories of upbeat, vocal harmony platforms, and more fluidity from Kori's organ with Jason's drums switching from miltaryesque to cymbal-heavy slow beats imperceptibly. Baby, I hope everything's gonna work out here. You've gotta believe in me and that every time I've said “I love you” I have meant it. You are my world, you are everything to me.

While there is far more experimenting on Bring it Back than on their first three full-length efforts as far as songs are concerned, the Mates do deliver an overall solid product. You don't get to album number four without learning a thing or two. I believe there is great love at work here: real love. Love, cheesy to you or not, does have a positive and resounding impact/influence on the things it touches. As long as Gardner and Hammel love each other, great music will pour out. The instances of experimentation are well tackled and hint toward a great fifth album, whenever it comes out. The only thing I wasn't too wild about was about the cover art and the crazy overuse of makeup, but shit, what do I know about anything anyway.

No, I do know this: Baby, I love you… no matter what the universe conspires.
www.matesofstate.com
www.barsuk.com

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Abel Folgar

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