Love and Mathematics

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 limelight with Vancouver’s finest bands – The Book of Lists, You Say Party! We Say Die! and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – as well as touring acts Nada Surf, Okkervil River, The Rosebuds and The Appleseed Cast.

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.