Night Mute is a guitar-driven, math rock record that harkens back to the '90s dynamic guitar days, calling up bands like
Rodan,
Roadside Monument, and Gondolier. Lyrics are softly spoken, guitars are picked and strummed gently, and drums are on-point in dealing with the math elements that
Ativin set up.
Ativin always keep the dynamics in check, never really cutting loose when you think they might or should. The last half of
Night Mute shows
Ativin relying on their influences in
Sonic Youth and
Slint. Surprisingly, there is no epic track that pulls out all of these stops -- all of the tracks clock in at under four minutes. The production focuses the attention to the drums, another '90s trend that works for this album.
Ativin offer up fairly decent, melodic indie rock with
Night Mute. ~ David Serra