reviews

Originally formed back in the mid-1990s, Math and Physics Club are a group of musicians dotted across the Pacific Northwest. They first burst into the public conscience with their 2005 EP, Weekends Away, and have since gone on to release three studio albums, and even managed a career retrospective, in the shape of last year’s b-sides and rarities compilation, In This Together. While parenthood and time, may have nabbed a couple of members along the way, the band continue to remain highly productive, and are set to return next year with their fourth album Lived Here Before. Today we’re premiering the first single from that record, All The Mains Are Down. Lived Here Before was concocted in an eleven day recording session with fabled grunge producer Chris Hanzek. The band relocating to the wilderness of Snohomish, Washington, their only company coming in the shape of, “Douglas firs and Swainson’s Thrushes”. Listening to, All The Mains Are Down, it’s not hard to imagine it coming from a place of rural idyll; lush, jangling guitars are cut through with lackadaisical vocals and latterly a, bright, upbeat flourish of almost barroom piano. As ever with Math and Physics Club, beneath the bright and breezy Real Estate-like guitar work, lurks a darker edge. Lyrically, it seems to deal with an emotional cross road, a place, “where all the mains are down with communication overground, while you make up your mind, I make up mine”. A world where decisions are unclear, the correct path forward blurred and unsure. There’s a sense that Lived Here Before is a darker, more world-weary piece than the band are currently known for, reflective perhaps of the times in which the record was made. If this is the result of the band turning a mirror on the world, then they might just have made their most reflective, intriguing and exciting record yet. --For The Rabbits

Thanks to sleepless nights which gave me a good opportunity to trawl the internet for new music, I came across the Math and Physics Club on the Matinée Recordings website. It was the perfect mix of simple, beautiful guitars, gentle vocals and a violin that makes my heart melt. Happy music. So I was thrilled that, on a trip to New York, I could get to see them not once but twice. I am never sure how popular bands are and they seemed genuinely surprised when we got there early and sneaked into their soundcheck in Brooklyn. But we got chatting and they came to say ‘Hi’ to us the next night after they played. We were lucky enough to see them again and hang out a bit at Indietracks too and we made sure that we were right at the front when they played. I carried on buying everything that they released but when “In The Together” came out, I hesitated until we realised that there were tracks that we didn’t have. How surprised was I to turn the CD over to see my husband cheering the band on in the front row at Indietracks! I was there too but my face is a bit obscured. We were thrilled to pieces. We are now filled with anticipation at news of a new record, “Lived Here Before” to be released in January 2018 on Fika Recordings/Matinée Recordings and dancing around to the new single, “All the Mains are Down”. --There's Treasure Everywhere

Matinée has just unveiled the Math and Physics Club song “All the Mains are Down” on SoundCloud. This song is the first single from the forthcoming album “Lived Here Before”.  It is a brilliant and lovely by this already classic band who I’ve seen a few times, but never in the US I think! There are no more details about the record, so we can only wait! --Cloudberry blog

Si algo tienen los americanos Math and Physics Club es que no suenan nada americanos. Desde 2004 vienen apegados a una línea de indie-pop que más bien recuerda a bandas australianas como The Lucksmiths, The Bats o The Go-Betweens o escandinavas como Acid House Kings o Sambassadeur. Desde 2013 no sacaban nada nuevo, pero 5 años después tenemos la suerte que en 2018 van a sacar nuevo álbum Lived here before, del cual solo conocemos un single All the mains are down, que es una pequeña joya de indie-pop clásico. Se supone que para el 26 de Enero ya tendremos ese nuevo trabajo, mientras tanto la espera se nos hará más corta con este sencillo. --Nebrija Records blog