But a photo of a band tells us almost nothing. You may get the vibe or an idea about the style of music they play, but you can only make a guess. A studio album should give us a clue about the band’s live performances. A professional studio recording can use all kinds of enhancements—overdubbing, synthesizers, pitch correcting, even other musicians playing on the record that can affect what the band can sound like live. So many bands that put out great studio records absolutely suck live, but there are other bands with a live show that is far better than their recordings. That’s definitely the case of Mutemath on their 2006 debut eponymous record, which was good. In 2000, I was obsessed with Paul Meany and some of the other bandmates’ previous band Earthsuit’s only album, Kaleidoscope Superior. I was sad when Earthsuit broke up after leaving their Christian label Sparrow Records and releasing their less refined album, The Rise of Modern Simulation. In the ‘00s pre-YouTube time when my family had dial-up Internet, I was on Paul Meany and Adam LaClave’s email lists and learned about Math (later Mutemath) and Macrosick. Though LaClave’s band never seemed to make it distribution, I eagerly bought Mutemath’s debut EP, Reset, in 2004.
AS I STARE THROUGH A LENS OF TEARS. Mutemath released their full-length debut album independently after a lawsuit with their distributing record label, Warner Music. The dispute was eventually settled, and the band released a remastered version with a few song swaps: “Control” and “Reset” were added from Reset, and “Without It” and the interlude “Polite” were dropped. Mutemath gained a reputation for their live shows. In 2007, Alternative Press even ranked them as the number 1 band to see live before you die. Sadly, I never got to see the band live; now Paul Meany releases music using Mutemath as a solo project, as all the other members have left the group. While I haven’t seen them live, the videos of their performances bring the songs to life in a way that their studio recordings cannot capture. For me, listening to Mutemath without the live experience was boring. Tracks like “Stare at the Sun” and “Stall Out” were nice late-night jazz bar songs, but during the exciting time of pop-punk, emo, and post-hardcore, Mutemath was just a little sleepy. It’s music I resonate more with in my 30s, but still, I feel like the lyrical content is lacking.
IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH, WE’RE SAFE. Both Mutemath and Earthsuit are best when they are lyrically cryptic. Christian themes may permeate Kaleidoscope Superior and Mutemath’s early work, but when songs get too specific on spiritual themes, or in Mutemath’s case on romantic themes, the songs feel awkward showing that the bands are much more focused on instruments than lyrics. I hated “Noticed” because of the cheesy lyrics, but listening to it in 2025, I think Darren King’s drumming and Roy Mitchell’s drumming are an example of where alternative music would go in the 2010s with groups like BØRNS or Foster the People. “Picture” is not a unique song lyrically or even musically. It’s a bit too long for radio and it overstays its welcome as it doesn’t have much more to say in the bridge or the repeated chorus, but it’s an exciting ballad with the drum and bass moving the song at a faster than usual love song BPM. The Cure’s “Pictures of You” expresses a similar sentiment, as does Nickelback’s 2005 “Photograph,” released a year before Mutemath’s track and Ed Sheeran’s 2014 “Photograph.” A love song comparing the passage of time and the frozen moment in a picture doesn’t need many words to make the listener feel something. But unlike Chad Kroeger, Ed Sheeran, and Robert Smith, Paul Meany isn’t a tabloid rock personality listeners are dissecting lyrics to find out who he’s singing about—at least to my knowledge. Mutemath seems like mature, married men, whose passion is for making music and supporting their families. The music itself feels like it should be asexual—though not aromantic—and when it’s not it feels a little weird. But that’s just my opinion.
Read the lyrics on Genius.
Mixtapemotions 