Mutes

Following acclaimed singles ‘Mere Slaughter’ and ‘Televangelist’, one of Birmingham’s most prolific bands of recent years, Mutes release their most raw, yet engrossing record to date. ‘...buried where you stand’, their upcoming 12-track fourth album, out on May 17th 2024.

Recorded almost entirely live as a three-piece at Megatone Studios with engineer Mark Gittins, for their fourth record the band stripped back the lavish technicolor method that defined their most recent albums - 2019’s Pareidolia and 2021’s Dreams of Being Cornered, and instead focused on the unfiltered immediacy found in their early work - whilst further finessing their ambiguous, genre-defying sonics. From the no-wave influenced ‘Mere Slaughter’, to the lilting psychedelia of ‘Perfumed Corpse’ and the ambient drones of ‘.cycles’, the band cover all this ground and more without compromising their own unique artistry.

Having played with the likes of Cloud Nothings, The Cribs, Omni, Battles, No Age and more, alongside their own headline shows around the country, Mutes have honed their ‘post-everything’ sound via their staunch work ethic; always with the end goal of creating an immersive album that flies in the face of the current climate’s ephemeral, single-centric culture. 

“Our goal when writing and recording ‘...buried where you stand’ was to capture the essence of our live sound in the most honest manner possible - this meant all tracking in a room together with very little separation between instruments, and minimal overdubs. Our ‘Albini record’, if you will. 

“Thematically, I have always tended to look inwards when writing. It is somewhat of a self-directed, existential manifesto - an attempt to recapture the parts of myself I felt lost; a distillation of the relentless, cacophonic internal monologue that results from juggling infinite choices and then facing bottomless consequences. I have not been inclined to seek lyrical inspiration in our country’s dire socio-political climate when there is so much inherent inadequacy in my own existence to be exorcised. Those themes being spiritual ambivalence, substance abuse and recovery, the human condition, fugue states, the pendulum-swing of living”, vocalist and lyricist James explains.

Ahead of the release of the album comes its next single Barely Living Proof, out today. The single is the 3rd track to come from '...buried where you stand', and is a dynamic meandering through existential crisis. Treated piano and vocals loops lurk beneath chromatic musings, until the sober tone gives way to a jarring out-and-out post-punk assault, with dual drum kits and dissonant noise bringing the song to its stark conclusion.

“The Midlands quartet have forged a release that hypnotises and runs with a full throttle power that will leave you as awed as you find yourself floored.” - The Line of Best Fit
“Such a colossal slab of rock.” - DIY Magazine