We've been MUTEMATH fans for a long, long time. The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I went to church camp in Nebraska, where I heard "One Time" by Earthsuit. I loved it. I bought a CD so I could listen to it over and over. But this was before the internet was really a thing you could use to find the answers to life, the universe, and everything, and they eventually fell off my radar. Until a few years later, when Ian shared a band called MUTEMATH, a new project from a couple former Earthsuit members. I was hooked.
When we lived in Philadelphia, MUTEMATH was my soundtrack as I walked to work at Reading Terminal Market. And after we caught them opening for 30 Seconds to Mars in Boston, I couldn't get enough. We saw them open for Matt & Kim, and headline on their Odd Soul tour. They were meant to make music, and their passion is palpable.
When we heard they were coming back to Boston this September, we bought tickets the moment they went on sale. The show sold out in hours. They added a second night. It sold out the same day. We soon learned the venue, Great Scott, is tiny. Surprising, knowing they can fill the House of Blues. But also amazing, knowing we'd be up close and personal with the band and music we love so much.
We grabbed dinner at our beloved Roxy's, then jumped in line at the venue. While waiting, we saw Paul walk out the front doors on his way somewhere before the show, saying hi on his way. The doors finally opened, and we hustled in. Quiet Entertainer kicked things off fantastically, and then it was on to the main event. We were front and center, so close I couldn't fit the whole band in one shot (sorry I only got part of your guitar, Todd!). This was a tour to say thanks to all their longtime fans, before the new album came out. They played their big hits, crowdsourced, which resulted in "Peculiar People, and shared music from their (at the time) upcoming album, Vitals.
Vitals, like all of their previous albums, feels like it was written specifically for me, right now. Stacia Brown puts it best in her Washington Post article: "Sometimes it isn’t the music a band produces that most endears us to it. It’s how precisely its albums can be synced to our lives; it’s the notion that the band is evolving in tandem with us." The song "Light Up" especially hits me. After eight years of marriage, I know exactly what the lyrics mean when Paul sings "Sometimes we just have to walk through the fire / Just to see once more what has never shined brighter."
Paul, Darren, Roy, and Todd, thank you so much for sharing your talents and passions with the world. We'll be listening as long as you keep making music.
