Mates Of State
Bring It Back

THE REVIEW

Anyone who saw me for months going to work seated on the train with my iPod headphones in my ears and my lips moving in rhythm with the tracks, while I struggled to keep my body still, couldn't know I was listening to this delightful album. Too bad for them...

No point beating around the bush: I like it because it's pop, but it rocks, because it's a varied and pleasant album, full of songs that stay with you and make your heart and body move. The recipe for these roughly 50 minutes of good music is simple: Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel from San Francisco, husband and wife, two voices singing and harmonizing, searching for each other, overlapping, accompanied by the sound of ample organ, a piano, and drums. That's right, no bass and guitar: limiting, but courageous. "I won't listen to an album without bass!" you might say, and you'd have a point, but the trick is in blasting the ultra-distorted organ and the groove is guaranteed, seeing is believing.

No need to bring up the White Stripes: we are in totally different territory, definitely more pop, but of a tangled kind. It's a duo that has the ability to craft tracks that start sunny and then envelop you in a fog bank (the opening "Think Long," which at its peak turns from a midtempo ballad to a martial stride), irresistibly catchy and danceable (the essential "Fraud In The '80s," "For The Actor," "Punchlines"), yet all with that anthemic inclination that forces you to sing the choruses out loud ("Beautiful Dreamer," "Nature And The Wreck," "So Many Ways"). Greatly contributing is a simple, yet rich writing style (who said Beatles-esque?), where the organ's sound opens melodic spaces otherwise hard to reach, thanks also to the choral use of voices, reminiscent of punk.

It would be too biased of me not to admit that one of the main limitations of this album is the drum sound which often feels just thrown in there: years of listening to rock make you understand that if you insist on using only the snare drum without touching the toms, you need the bass for support, period. This stylistic choice necessitates filling in with something else, which can be a counterpoint vocal part or an organ chime: after a while, needless to say, the trick becomes predictable and a bit tiring. Not that all this undermines the overall enjoyment, but it leaves room for doubt that if they freed themselves from these limitations, they'd achieve even higher quality work, since they have all the credentials to do well as 'Mates Of State.'