![]() ![]() But in the end we tried our best to make it more synthetic sounding, adding lots of layers of synthesizers and unusual instruments to take it away from sounding too organic. The first song we did, which was “Something Human,” was originally very much a stripped-down, acoustic-only type song. It felt less pressured and a bit more free.īut our general approach on the album was that most of the songs were written and demoed in one form and then ended up being produced in a very, very different way to that. A lot of it we approached one song at a time, and I quite enjoyed that because it broke up the process and we weren’t worried about any sort of deadline. ![]() This one was done in bits and pieces here and there, and spread over the last year or so. It wasn’t like most albums, where we just go into the studio for a couple months. It was quite a gradual and sporadic process. Chris Wolstenholme, Dominic Howard and Matt Bellamy (Image credit: Jeff Forney) And I think that’s great.” And with Simulation Theory, Bellamy continues, “we’re embracing the freedom that defines the times we’re in.” ![]() The bottom line, he says, is that “there are no rules anymore about what defines a genre or a particular style of music. It’s there because it’s doing something that is being featured.” But, Bellamy says, “When the guitar is there, it’s there because it has to be there. This time, you just have to be a bit more patient in waiting for those moments. There’s plenty of Muse-isms in the throttling grooves of “Pressure,” the celestial rock of “Blockades” and the epic sweep of opener “Algorithm.” But there’s also an r&b and funk edge to tracks like “Break It to Me” and “Thought Contagion,” an overt global pop influence on “Something Human” and “Get Up and Fight” and a full-on electro-Prince pastiche, “Propaganda” (which also features - because why not? - an acoustic slide solo).Īnd while Simulation Theory is far from the band’s most guitar-centric record - there’s no aggro-riffing along the lines of, say, “Stockholm Syndrome” - there’s still plenty of enthralling playing to be found in the album’s 11 tracks, with Bellamy continuing to display the blend of virtuosity and idiosyncratic creativity that has led him to become one of the 21st century’s few true guitar heroes. But on Simulation Theory the band, which also includes bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard, find a way to build upon what is already a remarkably singular sound. Of course, that’s just a theory.True to Bellamy’s word, Simulation Theory is far from the traditional Muse sound - which is saying something indeed, given how untraditional Muse’s music is to begin with. Because hard as this might be to believe, minimalism is still not a concept with which Muse are even remotely acquainted. And of course, even though the disc clocks in at a relatively brief 42 minutes - the shortest album of their career - the super deluxe edition comes with an entire second album of alternate-reality (get it?) versions and remixes (including one song performed with the UCLA Bruin Marching Band). Even though they swear they didn’t plan it ahead of time, the album is still centred around common SF themes of technology, alienation, alternate reality and humanity (and features a throwback movie-poster cover drawn by the guy who did the art for Stranger Things). So even when the stadium rockers are reining it in, the arrangements, production and instrumentation are still distinctively different and impeccably arranged. Of course, it isn’t all big beats and bigger hooks this is still Muse we’re talking about. And instead of trying to imagine a brave new prog future, they’re drawing on ’80s sounds and styles like synth-pop, new wave and electro-funk - with all the requisite Close Encounters keyboards, synth basses and pad-like drums to match. And instead of those songs being lengthy, multipart epics, they’re short, sweet and self-contained singles for the most part. So what exactly does ‘tone things down’ mean to one of the most challenging bands on the planet? Well, it means that instead of writing and recording an entire album about revolution, thermodynamics or the military, they apparently concentrated on recording one song at a time, taking their lyrical influences from the world around them. After painstakingly crafting a trio of grandly ambitious albums over the past 10 years, the British art-rock trio fronted by singer-guitarist Matt Bellamy supposedly wanted to tone things down for their eighth studio release. Can not having a concept be a concept? It can if you’re Muse. ![]()
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