Rejoice, rejoice, for the only thing that could save this week - a week where we've seen an old Etonian and his fag take power of people's lives in the UK (they call it the "new politics", apparently. Sounds like a throwback to the mid-19th century to me) - is a new Math and Physics Club single. And, by crikey, they've delivered. 'Jimmy Had a Poloroid' is a gentle dancefloor-filler; the sort of song that will make you throw your hands in the air like you just don't care and waggle your legs around like a duck with Alzheimer's. It's a joyful experience, make no mistake, and although it strays a little from MAPC of old, it pays homage to the sounds of Matinée past. Think Liberty Ship, or the other Elston brother "vehicle", Slipslide. With a bit of latter-day Camera Obscura or Allo Darlin' thrown in. It's a whole mess of fun. On t'other side is the deeply unseasoanable 'The Sound of Snow', which reminds of me of the slowies from The Smiths' 'Hatful of Hollow'. So you can get your kicks from swooning along to that once you've down from the pop thrill on the A side. If this is a taster of what's on the forthcoming MAPC album, 'I Shouldn't Look as I Do' then this year's pantheon of amazing pop albums will have another entry. You can buy Jimmy Had a Poloroid from the ever-reliable Matinée website.   --A Layer of Chips

 

The absolutely bombing 7" single "Jimmy Had A Polaroid" (YES! Vinyl is back on Matinée ; God is in his heaven): two and half minutes of indie-pop righteousness that was born - luckily enough - to be a 7" A-side, a pacy and catchy number in which delectably jangling guitar elides with skidding, bouncing rhythms which both then collide head-on with slipsliding, lump-in-throat lyrical nostalgia. There's also rather more driving bass than usual, which helps tremendously.   --In Love With These Times In Spite Of These Times

 

Something had been missing from the Seattle scene for the last few years, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I realized right after hearing the warm chiming guitar that begins their new single Jimmy Had a Polaroid that it was Math and Physics Club. Bucking the no/lo trend and keeping with a softer and smoother side of things they keep your attention with attention to detail like those chiming guitars I mentioned and a supple melody supplied by Charles Bert. The song evokes a nostalgic euphoria of some beautiful adolescent summer afternoon spent in company of best friends and pretty girls. Math and Physics Club are so good at songs that make you happy and sad at once, and this one does exactly that. The band have been on a hiatus since their 2007 EP Baby I’m Yours, and have pared their ranks, losing their violin player Saundrah Humphrey to Denmark, and Drummer Kevin Emerson to his own busy schedule, but they haven’t lost their sublime pop hooks. Jimmy Had a Polaroid is the first single from their upcoming second album entitled I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do out next month. Their label Matinée has decided to commemorate the return of the sole American band on their roster with a glorious 7″ single with an exclusive B-side The Sound Of Snow.   --The Finest Kiss

 

Seattle Pop group, Math and Physics Club, has a new CD out on Matinée Recordings in June and a new single. The CD is called I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do and the single is “Jimmy Had a Polaroid”. More delicious guitars, melodies and sweet longing from this band which has cornered the market for shimmery pop music. The singer’s voice is just happy enough to take the edge off his unfulfilled desires and memories. We know he is sad but we still want to dance around a little bit.   --Pop Matters

 

Math and Physics Club is a good choice a little after the Chesterfields tune. Jimmy Had a polaroid is a single from their (quite) new second album released this year. It's a great piece of subtle indie pop, with sweet melodies and nice arpegio of guitars. It's not without link with bands like Allo Darlin or even the C86 scene. A lovely single.   --Requiem Pour Un Twister

 

What a surprising email to wake up to! Math and Physics Club are coming off a pretty lengthy hiatus to deliver a new studio album and 7″ this year. This is both the A-side from the 7″ and the first track from the full length, entitled I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do. For those of you who were never fans of the MAPC, this song is pretty much classic for them. It sounds pretty close to the Lucksmiths’ brand of twee pop, it hits on themes of nostalgia and distance, and it’s pretty darn catchy.   --You Ain't No Picasso

 

I was starting to get a bit worried about Math and Physics Club. After their debut album came out, everything seemed to go quiet, and combined with the fact the band hardly seem to play any shows, it looked like they could quickly disappear. Thankfully this isn’t the case though as the band have appeared with not just a new song, but a new album as well. Their 2007 self-titled album was one of my favourites of that yet, full of charmingly upbeat pop numbers, and Jimmy Has a Polaroid doesn’t look to change that formula too much. Sure, it’s a little more rocking and the vocals are more focused than before, but it’s undeniably shares the same pop sensibilities. Jimmy Had a Polaroid is taken from the band’s upcoming second album, the delightfully modest I Shouldn’t Look as Good as I Do. It’ll be released by those super people at Matinée Recordings in June.   --Another Form Of Relief

 

Math And Physics Club have a new single titled “Jimmy Had A Polaroid” from their upcoming highly anticipated sophomore album I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do. The track is a quick tune that whisks you away and readies you for the summer. It’s briskness and simplicity it defines what summers should be about, enjoying yourself in the sun.   --Twenty Seven Views

 

It’s been a hair under three years since the last proper Math & Physics Club release, an EP titled Baby I’m Yours, and just about four since their debut and only LP, 2006’s Math & Physics Club. Prior to the so-called hiatus, the band had been quite busy, also participating in a single compilation in ‘06 and two additional EPs back in ‘05. One might have gotten the impression the band was no more. Thankfully, they would have been wrong. The band is back with a new album titled I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do, and tagging along is a new drummer — Chris Mac, owner of Jigsaw Records and IndiePages and former guitarist of Suretoss and percussionist of Patients Please. The sound of “Jimmy Had A Polaroid” is familiar, maintaining that light pop sound one can liken to the nerdy kid in big glasses, tight-knit sweaters, and the inevitable brainy book under the arm (and likely a fair share of records stashed at home by favorites like Belle & Sebastian and Elvis Costello and perhaps even Burt Bacharach). Despite the lengthy time since the band’s prior release, the sound is the same, save a slightly higher emphasis on bass (Ethan Jones) and Mac’s percussion. Remaining tried and true are Charles Bert’s soft, romantic vocals and guitarist James Werle’s playful, plucked jangle. It’s worth a listen… or five. “Jimmy Had A Polaroid” can be found on I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do, out now on Matinée Recordings. The label also released a single of the song, so don’t forget to pick that one up too!   --Fensepost

 

Math & Physics Club don’t get out much but when they do they make the most of it. Jimmy Had a Polaroid was the first single from the band’s second album and not a huge departure from their previous output, but when you’ve got a timeless sound and the ability to evoke bygone nostalgia that makes you ache for those days of really awful photos that faded to nothing a week later, then why mess with a good thing.   --The Finest Kiss (Best of 2010)

 

Seattle is usually known for a harder edge sound, perhaps even with a blend of hippy in there somewhere, so its no surprise that Math and Physics Club haven’t gotten too much attention out that way. Luckily, we’re here to set things straight, as their breezy pop jams always bring a ray of light into our days (not to mention a little good-hearted nerdiness). The band has a new album titled I Shouldn’t Look as Good as I Do, and it will be released on June 12th by my favorite label Matinée Records. Enjoy the sun.   --Austin Town Hall

 

There are some who would claim that Seinfeld was the best tv show of the 1990s. Others might say Friends or Twin Peaks or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Newsradio. They’re all a little misguided (well, except possibly for the Newsradio boosters), because the actual best show of the ‘90s was the cult kids’ show, The Adventures of Pete and Pete. For too few glorious years, Pete and Pete explored the gleefully surreal world of the titular brothers Pete(s) Wrigley, always with the unflinching wisdom that the main thing one carries from childhood into adulthood is melancholy and nostalgia for a magic that can never be regained. With “Jimmy Had a Polaroid,” Seattle’s Math and Physics Club distills the lessons of Pete and Pete into two and half minutes of pristine pop. Musically, it recalls the jangly college-rock soundtrack for the show that was provided by Miracle Legion in their Polaris alter-ego – a rush of genteel, melodic rock and roll drawing heavily on ‘80s-vintage kudzu rockers like R.E.M. and Let’s Active. Lyrically, “Jimmy Had a Polaroid” recounts the ways that simple activities with childhood friends like spinning around until you collapse with dizziness or listening to records could conjure a sense of wonder, only to lose it when the friends move away. The song is full of longing for the wonders of childhood, and even the objects mentioned – Polaroids and 45s – are nostalgic relics, replaced by newer, more restless technologies that suggest unceasing forward momentum more than pauses for childish reveries. Those are a lot of thoughts to be crammed into a deceptively simple pop song, but Math and Physics Club evoke them with ease. Like The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Math and Physics Club have mastered the craft of creating artistic Pop Rocks – they know that wrapping a bitter center in a candy shell is the best way to make sadness and melancholy palatable. “Jimmy Had A Polaroid” is the lead track on I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do, released earlier this year by the erstwhile indie-pop label Matinée Recordings.   --One Track Mind

 

La mejor canción en lo que va de año (probablemente también el mejor disco) ha sido creada por "Math And Physics Club" el grupo de Seattle que regresa con unas melodías arrebatadoras que resumen a la perfección la esencia del mejor pop. "Jimmy Had A Polaroid" es el primer single de "I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do" su nuevo sobresaliente álbum, publicado en la prestigiosa compañía Matinée, del que pronto daremos cuenta.   --Avec La Participation De

 

I Math and Physics Club sono una di quelle band che un ascoltatore distratto liquiderebbe come derivative. In fondo è lo stesso indiepop a ritornare per sua natura di continuo sui propri passi, e dev'essere in questo aspetto che si riconosce, almeno in parte, il suo pubblico. Qualche anno fa i MAPC erano stati presentati come "la versione californiana dei Lucksmisths", eppure il loro omonimo album di debutto e i due ep di contorno, tutti su Matinée, erano molto piacevoli e indovinati, con una particolare grazia che li distingueva nonostante l'aderenza al modello. Ora stanno per tornare e per il nuovo disco I Shouldn't Look As Good As I Do hanno pensato di chiamare un produttore, Martin Feveyear (già al lavoro con Mark Lanegan e Presidents of the USA) che ha spostato il baricentro del loro suono ancora più su, verso gli Housemartins. Dieci tracce per venticinque minuti, così si fa. Questa è la prima anteprima, parla di una polaroid e c'entrano ancora gli anni "when we were young".   --Polaroid

 

Math and Physics Club est une chouette formation indie pop actuelle. Ce groupe de Seattle a sorti il n'y a pas très longtemps son second album. On y retrouve la chanson "Jimmy had a Polaroid", sorti également en 45 tours sur Matinée. C'est un super single, de la pop sucrée pure jus avec de jolies mélodies, des arpèges de guitares cristalline. Le tout plaira je pense aux amateurs d'Allo Darlin' et évidemment de pop 80s (twee / c86). Bref ici on aime beaucoup.   --Requiem Pour Un Twister