Mute Math 'Armistice Tour'

The members of MUTEMATH had reached their breaking point. Collectively gathered on the front porch of their New Orleans home-studio where they were struggling to record the follow up to their 2006 critically-acclaimed Teleprompt/
Warner Bros. debut, the quartet screamed at each other with the full weight of the accumulated frustrations that had escalated from weeks of fighting. To heighten the tension, a lawn mower droning in the background drowned out their voices, inciting them to yell even louder in misguided efforts to be heard.

Fueled by the band's chaos and confusion, MUTEMATH has created a work of tremendous beauty and meaning on Armistice… via such tracks as the hypnotic, musically inventive "Clipping," the propulsive, high dynamic charge of "The Nerve," the quirky tribute to Murphy's Law "Backfire," and the nine-minute, soaring, closing opus "Burden." Instead of brushing aside the questions and anxiety that propelled the project's birth, the quartet embraces them, with each song questioning where to go from here.

Since MUTEMATH released its first EP in late 2004 and hit the road in 2005, their inherent nature has challenged limitations and expanded parameters. By the time of the 2006 self-titled debut, their blending of adverse genres into its own innovative sonically adventurous creation earned them a reputation as one of modern music's most daring young groups. By 2007, they would find themselves Grammy nominated and declared by Alternative Press as "the #1 band you need to see live before you die." But in the process of pushing boundaries even further for themselves, they almost pushed themselves out of existence. "It was a risk we had to take," says King looking back on what they set out to accomplish for Armistice. "This record was by far the most painful music-making experience I've ever had, but also the one I'm most proud of."

It's evident that this record is not a high-minded story with a beautiful resolve, but rather the experience of knowing when to stop fighting for the sake of progress. Without a doubt, ideals get mamed and dismembered in the scuffle, but Armistice emerges as a transcendent anesthetic to keep us singing and dancing through it all.