(Toronto) Mates Of State could shit in a box and I would give it a good review. I guess everybody has that one band or artist that they consider their own. Like you were the only person listening to them and going to their shows when you couldn’t even find their show listings in the weekly paper. I am that way with Mates Of State. It seems that over the past seven years, MOS have been playing, if even at the lowest decibel, somewhere in the background of my life. Work parties, road trips, birthday parties, house warnings, cottage retreats, you name it. Would you believe that a woman told me she was leaving the country to be with another man on the night of a MOS show? For some weird reason, I think the situation made my adoration for MOS them even stronger.

Mates of State are husband and wife duo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Both lend their talents in the vocal department, with Kori mainly on the keys (B-3 electric organ, Casio synthesizer, Rhodes electric piano and the plain old boring piano) and Jason on percussion (drums, glock and triangle). The two have been making music since 1997 and are from the booming metropolis of Lawrence, Kansas. This latest release is very piano heavy. Gone is the characteristic MOS Casio synthesizer and electric organ that molded their sound on their early records. In their place is a pounding piano with the typical strong drum line and pop harmonic melodies.

According to Pitchfork, MOS “…have basically made an album to cook dinner and do the dishes to (5.1).” I would agree with them, but I would like to add that while you do your dishes and cook dinner, you can also make coffee, tap your feet, consume alcohol, throw a party, dance, make love, sudoku, print out your resume, jog, finish your taxes, punch somebody, feed your cat, repair your lawnmower, compliment somebody, get a tan, eat rice, change a light bulb or write a dirty word on the mirror when you come out of the shower.

The only thing I find missing from this release is the bare naked slow ballad that will make your eyes water up. For example, Bring It Back had Nature and the Wreck and Team Boo had Separate The People. Even the All Day EP had Drop The Anchor. For Re-Arrange Us, the closest that they come to this is on Lullaby Haze (Blue And Gold Print comes a close second/maybe first?)

4.5/5

Track by track review follows

Get Better
This song could possibly be in the running for best MOS song ever. It is up there with Goods (All In Your Head) and Like U Crazy

Now
Now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now. I love one word choruses. Anybody remember Matt & Kim, Yeah, yeah,? It works. Hey, wait a second. Matt & Kim are a boy/girl, drum/keys duo too. Hmmm….

My Only Offer
Are you kidding me? They saved this for the trird track? It busts in with a piano, drums, subtle horns and a triangle. If the first three songs haven’t got you hooked yet, there is something wrong with ya.

The Re-Arranger

“now that I know what is inside you, I know I don’t want you”

Ouch! Watch out, this track will get in your head, even more so than Get Better and Now for whatever reason. Ohhhh…subtle horns at the beginning. Have MOS used horns on a track before? This track also demonstrates a classic MOS move called lets sing totally different lyrics at the same time (LSTDLATST). It sounds great, but you are damned if you want to know what they are singing.

Jigsaw
Over the duration of the CD, it is obvious that a lot of the songs are about Kori and Jason and their relationship. Past relationships, ending relationships, old trusted relationships, hanging on to relationships, you name it. Very relationship-ish-y.

Blue and Gold Print
I thought I knew what this song was about, then I didn’t, then I did again.

“He is treating me right”

Based on this line alone, I would say that the person they are with now is doing OK and the greatest compliment they can give them is that ‘he is treating me right’, but obviously, their heart is still with somebody else. Close?

Help Help
Maybe Tullycraft was right, some MOS songs do kind of sound alike?

You Are Free
I guess this is a break up song, as in ‘We are doing each other favour by breaking up”, however, as I listen to it, the only visual I have is Kori and Jason standing in a field returning a duck back to its natural habitat after they nursed it back from a broken leg. Maybe I’m an optimist.

Again, more LSTDLATST and a much welcome throw back to the organ-ish sounding Mates

Great Dane
Wait. I was wrong. Screw you Tullycraft.

Lullaby Haze
Sounds like a grand piano? A totally different feel from the other tracks because of this choice. The piano gets pounded.

That’s it. Great CD.

 

 Mates Of State - Now (2008): Play Now

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