Re-Arrange Us

Considering the sort of cute overload your typical husband/wife music duo induces, Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel have done a commendable job establishing Mates of State as an original, inventive band rather than indie pop's equivalent of a lolcat. While their mid-concert kissy faces and ubiquitous canoodling press shots would seem to depict their music strictly as a product of love's labors, the duo's most intriguing draw stems from their ingenuity, consistently setting off creative lightbulbs album-after-album despite a limiting drums/keys palette. Of course, that's not to say the couple is impervious to the Sonny & Cher effect. With two newly-minted babies in two years, Gardner and Hammel must feel a rite of passage into parenthood is due, as Re-Arrange Us thoroughly redecorates the standard Mates of State sound.

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