Record review: Mates of State, "Re-Arrange Us"

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By A.D. AMOROSI / Philadelphia Inquirer

3 stars

For a famously devoted hubby-and-wife music-making couple, mates Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel usually manage to stay away from any yuckiness associated with such pairing. Though they’ve softened the new-wave crackle and dynamic rhythmic attack of their previous recordings to include chipper strings and jumpy choruses, there’s not much smoochie-faced longing to be found here. They’ve got the high-pitched vocal tics and accompanying harmonies, thumping drums, driving Farfisa-like organs and spicy girl-group peaks of their past on the sprightly “The Re-Arranger” and the spacey “Now.”

But such evenness means Mates of State lack the drama and punch of tumultuous couplings like Tammy and George or Ike and Tina. And rather than ever finding even a twinkle of domestic frenzy, Kori and Jason opt for the pastoral (“My Only Offer”) and saccharin (“Blue and Gold Print”). Of course, I love, love, love that Jason and Kori are so happy. Yet I can’t help but want to muss it all up just to hear some harder results — rearrange them a bit to get to the dark side of wedded bliss.