Love and Mathematics Bio<<>>
Stage lights illuminate Love and Mathematics. Squalls of effects-dappled guitar wash over an unsuspecting crowd. Swelling keyboards rise forth and create a kaleidoscope of dizzying sonics. As the lush atmospherics begin to lure listeners towards a dark place, a jubilantly melodic bass guitar intercedes. Drums join the fray, bashing out tribal beats and creating a pulsing rhythm that sets the dance floor writhing. A vocalist wracked with twitching intensity takes to the microphone and casts a hypnotic spell. A second voice chimes in. Working in tandem, they conjure a choir of celestial songbirds.
Esoteric yet immediate, cataclysmic but celebratory, paradoxical Love and Mathematics play spacey psych-pop at its most apocalyptic.
The Vancouver band can trace their beginnings to a longstanding partnership between Ian Somers (vocals/guitar/keyboards) and Shane Turner (bass/vocals). When the pair recruited Lucas Rose (guitar/keyboards), they found his monolithic, dissonant guitar work muddying their pristine pop stylings. Rather than reining Rose in, they embraced the opportunity to reinvent themselves entirely and explore a dynamic new direction. The sea change was complete once the three collaborators discovered talismanic drummer Kyle Koenig. Koenig’s controlled-chaos kit attack brought an urgent energy to the group. Christened Love and Mathematics, the four-piece drew from Built to Spill’s angular melodies, Mogwai’s textured mediations and Animal Collective’s spaced-out oddity to forge a sound distinctly their own.
Adjourning to Vancouver’s storied Hive studio, the band worked with producer Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Pretty Girls Make Graves) to record a four-song, self-titled EP. Rather than duplicating their oceanic live sound, Love and Mathematics opted to explore a more nuanced approach with the recordings. The final result reflects a band invigorated and inspired by the wealth of new ideas and possibilities presented to them.
Out of the gates, the propulsive “Remember to Masticate” lashes into the listener with discordant guitars, lilting harmonies and rhythms that turn on a whim. “Copper Coin Bikini” brims and bristles with skittish energy as lyrics sketch out an abstract rebellion: “You are the emissary; I am the socialist; Gather the troops and rally outside the capital.” The disc’s most cathartic track, “Plan for a Better Year,” punctuates its emotion-saturated vocals with wails of buzzsaw instrumentation. Finally, the swirling “A Fight Between a Crow and a Seagull” ascends and cascades with an airy grace.
At present, Love and Mathematics are at work self-recording their full-length debut. On their off-nights, they can likely be found upon a darkened stage. With a live set hailed by Exclaim! and The Georgia Straight, the band has shared the stage with Spiral Stairs, Okkervil River, The Rosebuds, Nada Surf, The Appleseed Cast and many others.
Having established themselves as fixtures of the Vancouver scene, Love and Mathematics have only begun to explore their potential as a band. The remainder of that self-discovery should prove equally enthralling for both the musicians and their listeners.
Reviews
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STREETHAWK
the rosebuds/love and mathematics
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In the spirit of summer city wandering, we walked into Saturday night’s Rosebuds show on a whim. Not unlike the way one breaks in new shoes with a surprise gift from the neighborhood dog, we stepped directly into the glorious jangle of Vancouver’s Love and Mathematics. The band’s tight, earnest delivery of high-frettin’ guitars, gawky, elastic arrangements and eccentric vocals made for an engaging set. This evening saw the openers, Love and Mathematics, walk away with the best set of the night.
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EXCLAIM!!!
In one of the most atmospheric venues in town, Richards On Richards, Vancouver was fortunate enough to finally host indie legends the Appleseed Cast for the first time ever. Supporting them were local boys, Love and Mathematics, who were a perfect pairing for the night;
complete with layered dreamlike vocals, and a sound that is brimming with sunlight even in the most melancholy of moments, they drift along in slightly eerie tones that blend seamlessly together. Ending on a drawn out piece that swirled around and heaved like the ocean’s waves, the four boys proved to be steady alongside the night’s headliners.
EXCLAIM!!!
the rosebuds/love and mathematics
As far as the openers went, the dense arrangements of Vancouver’s Love and Mathematics left a melodramatic urgency in the air, setting up the night well
JAY / MY SPACE -If Frank Zappa were alive and for some bizzare reason had a love child with a Bulgarian Dwarf named Rutabega, who for some untold reason had an uncontrollable urge to create an experience that was unpronouncable in the human language... This and this alone would be what you guys did the other night at my dogs house. What the shizzamiralinkyramma was that. Wholly shakers and quakers, squakers and bambookahs was that?
THE TERMINAL CITY: love and mathematics enchanted the crowd with thier indie pop rhythms and charm. Go see them live if you get a chance!
THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT: "esoteric atmospherics, layering repeated guitar, bass, and keyboard lines to build a lush wall of swirling tone. It's an approach that the band pulls off with aplomb."
hey thanks! i've been a fan of love and mathamatics for a while. i'm looking forward to finally playing the railway! not looking forward to carrying gear up those stairs though... see you there!
