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Mates of State

Though conceived as a duo, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel — the he and she music factory known as Mates of State — have never failed to generate a trademark wall of sound built on dozens of varied voicings of keys, drums, and alternately lushly layered and playfully dueling vocals. On their newest album, Re-arrange Us, they move beyond these boundaries (their traditional organ sound is a distant memory, replaced with organic piano and synth sounds) with additional instrumentation, not to mention a quantum leap in song craft apparent on instantly indelible gems like "Now," "Jigsaw" and "Get better." Throughout the new album, Kori's piano and the emergence of both Mates' lead vocals from their trademark harmonizing signal the next stage of Mates of State's evolution. Re-arrange Us follows Bring it Back, written and recorded around a schedule mandated by the birth of Gardner and Hammel's first child and hailed upon its spring 2006 release as "truly unique, wonderfully complex pop" (Nylon), "a top-shelf treat" (Entertainment Weekly), an "Essential" by GQ and a "Best of the Month" in Elle. Mates of State's pre-Bring it Back discography include the albums My Solo Project, Our Constant Concern, and Team Boo, as well as numerous singles and EPs, most notably 2005's All Day EP.


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