''Vitals'' is the fourth full-length release from
group
Mutemath
Mutemath (sometimes styled as MuteMath or MUTEMATH) is an American alternative rock project founded by American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Paul Meany. Originally co-founded as a band with Darren King in 2002, Me ...
. The album was released on November 13, 2015. It is the group's first release on their own imprint label Wojtek Records, following their departure from
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
and the dissolution of
Teleprompt Records
Teleprompt Records was an independent record label that was formed in 2003 by record producer Tedd T, keyboardist and Mutemath vocalist Paul Meany, and manager Kevin Kookogey. The label was formed to promote and distribute music for Meany's band M ...
. It is also the first studio album featuring Todd Gummerman since he joined the group in 2011.
Recording
Following 2011's ''
Odd Soul
''Odd Soul'' is the third full-length release from New Orleans group Mutemath. The album was released by Teleprompt Records and Warner Bros. Records on October 4, 2011. It is the first album without original guitarist Greg Hill. Bassist Roy Mitch ...
'', the band started recording material for their fourth album in 2012, and began playing some of the new material live in 2013. Paul Meany in an interview explained that at the end of 2013, "we had a sobering moment ...
elistened to what we had, and we had that sinking feeling of like, 'Gosh, this just isn't it. This isn't the record we want.'"
Starting over, the band made a resolution to write a new song each day starting January 1, 2014, until they felt they'd "got it – got what this album needs to say and what we feel it should represent about where we're at right now."
Contrasting the recording of ''Vitals'' to that of their previous album, Meany has stated that "The challenge for this record was how few notes could we get away with? We would overplay all the time, recording this record, but then it was a process of trying to now skim it back. What are the essential parts of the song? We were trying to see how loud we could let simplicity happen for each song idea."
He also explained that the process was highly collaborative, with all band members sharing responsibilities: "Our approach on this record was not, 'All right, you do guitar. You do bass. You do drums.' It was, 'OK, today we're doing drums. Today we're doing synths.' All four of us, speaking into whatever the part was, were trying to find the best part."
Release
The album's title was announced on June 23, 2015. The release date was initially slated to be October 16, 2015, but was later pushed back to November 13.
The album was released in Japan on February 24, 2016.
Critical reception
''Vitals'' received generally positive reviews upon its release.
Track listing
Charts
The album debuted at #49 on the Billboard 200 and #32 on Top Album Sales with 10,000 units sold on Billboard charts dated December 5, 2015.
References
{{Authority control
2015 albums
Mutemath albums