Mute Math live

Mute Math
House Of Blues, Chicago
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

From the first moments Mute Math meandered onto the House Of Blues stage in their designer suits — drummer Darren King duct-taping his large headphones on, lead singer Paul Meany strapping on his keytar — the nearly sold-out crowd knew they were in for a unique musical experience.
The band opened with their single, “Typical” (made almost-famous by Chris Sligh on American Idol and by its ground-breaking video plastered all over YouTube), then rocked through most of their limited catalog — 2004’s Reset EP and last year’s self-titled/self-released debut LP.

If they aren’t careful, they’re going to earn themselves a reputation as a true jam band, as they extended most of their songs into eight-minute sonic journeys. That turned out to be a genius move because their musical innovation onstage is what kept the audience so captivated. King stayed in a zone as he beat his drums and anything else he could find with a vengeance. Bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas spent half of his time pounding on the huge bass drum and playing the electronic cello. And as Meany let his Sting-like ethereal vocals soar, he kept himself entertained rocking the keytar, programming fills, beats, and loops, and doing full flips over his upright keyboard.

At one point, Meany pulled out a guitar-shaped touch-sensitive electronic instrument that looked like it had been made in his basement. He added another electronic layer to their complex song with it, and then proceeded to toss the instrument to the front row of the audience so they could play with it for awhile. Mute Math’s incredible ability to create such complex sonic layers live allowed them to keep the audience mesmerized through even their vocal-less songs. This came to a climax as they closed in an all-out drum frenzy with every band member beating on something different, and in the encore as they intricately played through an extended version of their instrumental jam, “Reset.” To ensure their song made maximum impact, they finished by destroying the stage — lights and all.

Openers The Cinematics played a short but engaging set of accessible Brit-rock off their debut LP, A Strange Education. They were followed by Somebody Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, a band with a name far more interesting than their actual music. While most of their short set was carried by some interesting guitar riffs, the weak vocals and inexperienced stage presence left a lot to be desired.

The only thing Mute Math’s show was missing was simply more show. Mute Math seemed almost in a hurry to finish and get off stage. Meany’s banter with the crowd was very minimal, including barely a welcome, a very brief band introduction, one joke about “your Bears beating my Saints” (the band hail from New Orleans), and a simple thanks at the end. They only played for slightly more than an hour, and ended with just a one-song encore, skipping for some unknown reason the rest of the songs on their set list. Perhaps they were simply trying to leave the audience hungry for more, which they did. And for a band fronted by an unusual guy in a suit playing the keytar and other electronic gadgets, that’s quite a feat.

— Carter Moss

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly