Rows of fluorescent lights support three large white projection screens surrounded by various other lighting accessories. That is the scene greeting patrons from the stage as they file into the Amos’ Southend venue in Charlotte, NC on October 26, 2007. To any fans of Mute Math, who have previously seen their live performances, most of this is an endearing site with somewhat of a twist. By 8:00 pm, the venue is starting to come alive and a mere 15 minutes later, the vocal powerhouse named Eisley takes the stage.
Eisley’s set does not exactly take off running; it’s not from a lack of trying, as they do lead off with one of the stronger tracks off Invasion, their most recent release. The sound system is the proverbial thorn in their side as feedback continually rings loudly over the house system with each attempt to sing the lyrics of Many Funerals. The band, in frustration, actually stops the song and apologizes to the seemingly understanding crowd who cheer their sheer candidness. This is a quality that the band seemingly uses to their benefit throughout their somewhat stiff performance. Their frank stage banter was equally as memorable as the songs themselves. (They don’t particularly like most “girl bands” either, they at one point confessed to a crowd that seemed to agree, excluding present company)
For lack of a better description, Eisley conveys the feeling of watching the high school band perform at the annual talent show for the second or third time. There’s not a lot of blunders by the actual performers, but there’s not yet that “rock band” posturing or attitude that says “we own you right now.” Eisley flawlessly perform their music as well as they do on disc, if not better, but exude an awkward air that give them a sense of vulnerability that draws the audience closer. Their stage show is quite polarizing from the one that will follow them, as they rarely move much on stage, but the quality of performance is there.
Most of Eisley’s performance predictably was heavy on the Invasion material, but did include a few numbers off Room Noises for their followers. It is also to be commended how much they soldiered on despite the constant, aforementioned audio equipment issues that hindered their ability to include all the vocal pieces that define their sound. They still managed to woo a large number of attendees with their roughly 40 minute set that closed with their current single and the title cut, “Invasion”.
By the time Eisley thanked their fans, old and new, for being such good sports during the frustrating yet satisfactory performance, the venue had more than three-quarters filled up. This is a rather important thing to note, as Amos’ is a venue that holds 1,200 people at full capacity. Less than two years ago, Mute Math played a different local venue, Tremont, which contains both a “large” stage and an intimate “casbah” stage to which the band played the latter. That stage holds at most 325 patrons and was not completely filled. Their next two trips through Charlotte found them moving to Tremont’s larger stage, then to the current venue, but with it being less than half full. Their 4th club show in this region in just under 2 years found them almost selling out the 1,200 person club. This alone speaks volumes about Mute Math’s track record both for solid performances and relentless touring schedule.
As the house lights went down, all the long-time followers of the band were treated to a new stage intro. The previous brightening and dimming of the fluorescent lights and a rather large incandescent bulb, center-stage, where now replaced by a large projection of white noise that encapsulated the three large screens stage top and down over the fluorescent bars lining the entire stage back. Mute Math had managed to take what was already their expected show of stage antics and dramatic lighting punch to the next level by incorporating video images in a non-traditional fashion.
The band walked on stage to thunderous applause, and it was especially piled on for the anticipated ritual of, drummer, Darren King taping his headphones to his head. To anyone who has not experienced a Mute Math concert, this is what you call foreshadowing. The first time I saw the band, it was the moment I realized “this isn’t going to be your normal show.” The band members took up their various instruments while bathed in deep red light as the white noise continued to play behind them. As if a machine sparked to sudden life, they all began jamming at exactly the same moment with such fluid motion that made it seem they had been on stage playing all along. Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, the band’s bassist, looked particularly maniacal beating away at one of the drums with such passionate fervor as yellow spotlight washed over him.
At this time, the guys launched into their first actual song, “Typical”, with full theatrics and did not relent from that point forward. The current internet video sensation was well received by the crowd, and was a great foot to lead forward with to get all pistons firing between both band and audience. “Chaos” followed their opener before they unleashed the only new song of the night, “Clockwork”. This song saw frontman Paul Meany playing guitar rather than his usual Rhodes or keytar instrumentation and was more on the low-key side than a majority of the band’s repertoire.
It was by this point that long-time fans, including this reviewer, could tell the band was a little off. I originally chalked it up to a relentless touring schedule full of action packed, chaotic shows finally taking some sort of toll, but hoped that it was just a bug passing through the band. Paul’s vocals were not nearly as strong or fervent as past performances, though the musicianship was mostly there. There were some parts that sounded a bit off still, but that could be attributed to the previously mentioned sound issues. It also could be the simple fact that a band with that much energy and unpredictability will miss a beat here and there if you actually start to listen for it. (Checking reports of shows following tonight’s performance, I found similar reports of Paul losing his voice) Having said that, the energy from the band was still at full-steam and if anyone noticed deficiencies, they didn’t seem to care.
The band played most of their self-titled release before the final bow of the evening, all sounding more dynamic and passionate than their studio-recorded counterparts. “Peculiar People”, one of the few songs not borrowed from the Reset EP on the band’s re-release of debut full-length, featured one of the most interactive sing-alongs in set. The back-and-forth cat-calling of “whoa”s built like a wave refusing to break until everyone in the venue was echoing in unison. Mr. Meany’s vocals strained to keep up with the crowd’s collective counters, but he mastered the moment before bringing the anthem to its transcendental declaration of “we were born to fly”.
As if the band itself weren’t enough visual stimulation for anyone lucky enough to land a good view of the stage, the new projection system showed coinciding video loops through each song. “You Are Mine” is but one good example as it featured an endearing, classic black & white video of a couple dancing together to the beautiful ballad of love. Of course, for the Mute Math purists, there were the typical stage antics during the live set staples “Stare at the Sun/Obsolete” and “Break the Same”. To anyone who has not witnessed a Mute Math jam session, it would best be described as four A.D.D. children being let loose on musical instruments doing their best impression of The Blue Man Group. You can never assume that there’s something one of the band members won’t do during these brief sessions. Paul can just as easily be expected to be seen jumping on and/or over his Rhodes piano as one can expect to see Darren stacking his drums haphazardly atop one another playing the metal stands as much as the drums themselves or even riding a drum into the crowd. Tonight’s show saw no one riding into the crowd on a whim, however, and was rather tame by their usual standards.
The encore was, of course, the mother of all Mute Math jam sessions more commonly known as, the instrumental track, “Reset”. This song has been Mute Math’s closer for sometime and yet, with each performance, still feels as refreshing as the first viewing. With the band interchanging various instruments and Paul bringing out his homemade instrument that he “releases” to the crowd by song’s end, the energy manages to reach its climax with thundering clacks, feedback wails, and blisteringly fast strobe lighting. The band leaves no option for further encores as they manage to tear down the entire stage setup by the completion of their finale’s performance. Four men who appear genuinely grateful for the place they’ve achieved thank the spent audience and make their weary escape to the sound of continuous applause.
