Emerging from the ashes of Christian band {$Earthsuit}, New Orleans-based {$Mute Math} might have you thinking they've gone the {\post-rock} route with {&"Collapse,"} the instrumental opener on their self-titled debut. With its hypnotic rhythms, droning synths, and extraterrestrial guitar noodlings, the song is like a long-lost collaboration between {$Tortoise} and {$Brian Eno}. But once the anthemic, arena-ready {\rock} groove of {&"Typical"} kicks in, with vocalist/keyboardist {$Paul Meany} sounding like a dead ringer for {$Peter Gabriel} fronting {$U2} at their most accessible, it immediately becomes clear that this quartet has higher aspirations. The band lists {\experimental} artists such as {$Björk} and {$DJ Shadow} among their influences, and it's the unexpected ways in which those stylistic quirks rear their heads that makes {$Mute Math} more compelling than your typical modern rockers. The musical dialogue between {$Darren King}'s off-kilter beats, {$Roy Mitchell-Cardenas}' {\dub}-influenced bassline, and {$Meany}'s synth squiggles on {&"Chaos"} recalls {$the Police} circa {^Reggatta de Blanc}, while the spacey trippiness of {&"Stare at the Sun"} comes off like a more radio-friendly outtake from {$Radiohead}'s {^OK Computer}. Listening to their debut, you may find yourself wishing {$Mute Math} would take their sound even further to the {\experimental} extreme. For all the band's intriguing stylistic flourishes, at times their poppy sound has more in common with {$Sting}'s bland {\adult contemporary} work of recent years, lacking the power and passion that makes their best songs explode with energy. But when they do hit their stride, you get the sense that these guys are gonna be huge, even if you wish they'd be willing to toil in {\experimental} obscurity a little while longer. ~ Bret Love, All Music Guide