The Ambitious Paradox

Currently Listening: Muse: The Resistance

[caption id="attachment_313" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Muse's new album tries to point towards something grander than we can imagine."]

[/caption] If I haven't talked to you about music in the last 4-6 months, then you may not know that Muse has slowly but surely been emerging as one of my favorite contemporary rock bands. Their music is epic, bass-driven, ostentatious, and emotional, sometimes to the point of appearing almost like a parody. The first Muse song I heard was "Time is Running Out" from 2004's Absolution. The college radio station I listened to in East Lansing, MI at the time play that song regularly, and I really grew to enjoy it. Nevertheless, Muse didn't really enter into my primary musical consciousness at the time. Then I began hearing more songs from 2006's Black Holes and Revelations, and I was more impressed. "Knights of Cydonia" ultimately did it for me. As Muse's new album, The Resistance, came closer to release, I started listening to more and more of their stuff, getting more and more excited. When it came available for preorder from iTunes, I immediately signed up, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it came with the new 'iTunes LP'. So did the album meet my expectations? Below is my track-by-track review:

1. Uprising: Cool rock tune that had me from the beginning, but isn't "great".
2. Resistance: Starts slow, but eventually builds up to powerful, evocative chorus. Displays first major signs of a 'Queen' transformation. Might eventually content for favorite song on the album.
3. Undisclosed Desires: Includes synth beeps and beats that are fun and full of dance potential, but at its heart, it is a classic pop song, but I like it.
4. United States of Eurasia: The 'Queen' transformation is complete. This track is as grand and self-aggrandizing as anything Freddie Mercury ever sang. In Muse's defense, however, Matt Belemy writes, "The song is from an imaginary musical about a 'United States of Eurasia', the search for peace and the accidental creation of a new super power challenging American primacy." Now that's a musical I'd like to see come to fruition, but unfortunately, the track goes out with a fizzle, covering Chopin's Nocturne, op.9 no.2 as it fades out.
5. Guiding Light: Matt writes, "This track… is influenced by 1980s cheesy stadium rock!… These types of harmonics have been banned from rock music for at l;east 18 years, maybe longer." Yeah, Matt. There's a reason for that. It's as cheesy as its namesake. Worst track on the album, IMO.
6. Unnatural Selection: We go from the worst to the best. Arguably my favorite song on the album, this track uses the fast, bass-driven, minor keys that build to powerful guitar rock that first drew me to Muse. It's everything I love about this group, and I wish this album had more moments like this one.
7. MK Ultra: This is another good, faster rock song. Interestingly, it really reminds me of "Endgame" from the musical Chess of the 1980s. Maybe that's appropriate because the album as a whole really evokes much of the cold war sense of desperation that is also in Chess. (They're Muse; everything feels like armageddon to them. Right?)
8. I Belong to You / Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix: This is arguably the most pop-firendly song on the album. The syncopated piano is peppy but counter-indicated by the minor keys and Bellamy's moaning, which gives it a eerie, ghostly feel, as if the listener has just crashed a party of the supernatural. Halfway through, however, it transitions into the famous aria from Saint-Saëns's opera Samson and Delilah, before returning to the bouncy pop of "I Belong to You".
9. 10.  11. Exogenesis: Symphony, Parts 1, 2 and 3 (Overture, Cross-Pollination, and Redemption): The last three tracks have to be taken together because they compose a mini-musical that is as much orchestral as it is rock. Apparently, it's the story of humankind nearing extinction, seeking refuge through space travel, but finally becoming at peace with its fate. One song flows into the next very effortlessly and beautifully. Technically, these songs may be the most beautiful and brilliant of the album, although it has taken me a number of listens to come to that conclusion. Frankly, the whole album feels like a concept album. I'm not sure why it takes until the last three tracks to get to the meat of the 'concept'.

Because I bought the album as a digital download from iTunes, I also received an "iTunes LP" as part of the purchase. An attempt to revitalize the sale of albums, iTunes LPs actually feature some pretty cool features that certainly feel like a modern, digital throwback to Lps and CDs of the physcial media era. Aside from the random, useless photos, there are some very cool "making of" videos, possibly even cooler visualization, full song lyrics, and a brief description of each song written by Matt Bellamy. (That's where I got the quotes included above.) This was a surprisingly fun experience for a digital download. Altogether, I think I'm still digesting the album. Upon my first couple of listens, I have to admit that I didn't like it very much. Upon multiple re-listens, however, I think that initial reaction may have been because it is not the album I was expecting. I think I expected some powerful, angry guitar and piano-driven rock. Although The Resistance has those elements, it also has so much more. This is definitely Muse's attempt at a bombastic, larger-than-life concept album. Although I think it succeeds in that regard, I question the album's replay-ability. How often will I really put this in? As often as Black Holes and Revelations? Probably not. Maybe that fact, more than anything else, is a good indicator of how I feel about it.