It's hard to imagine the enthusiastic critical reception that paid British trio Muse is the bands third album and Warner Bros. debut, absolution. representative samples, tells the story of "shocking and rescue" said NME, when the rock sound of the choir joined with the "safe ticket to world domination" Bang and boasted, "hyperspace jump into the future" Although out the title of "Sheer, blistering rock glory" the Daily Mirror said: "dazzling" and the Guardian gushed, "totally fun".
Rock Sound’s quote turned out to be positively prophetic, with Absolution topping charts in the U.K. and France, climbing into the top five in 12 countries (including the Netherlands, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, and Belgium), the top 10 in 15 countries. and the top 20 in 20 countries--all within weeks of its release. Currently all of Muse’s albums are platinum in the U.K., and predominantly gold in the major European territories.
Rock Sound’s quote turned out to be positively prophetic, with Absolution topping charts in the U.K. and France, climbing into the top five in 12 countries (including the Netherlands, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, and Belgium), the top 10 in 15 countries. and the top 20 in 20 countries--all within weeks of its release. Currently all of Muse’s albums are platinum in the U.K., and predominantly gold in the major European territories.
So, with all those words and numbers you might well be asking where Muse has been all your life. The answer, if you’ve been paying attention, has been there the whole time, or at least back to 1999, when the trio released their debut American album, Showbiz. What’s happened since conclusively proves that timing is everything, and while Muse has yet to generate the sort of manic sensation Stateside that greeted them internationally, the time is now totally ripe for their triumphant return with Absolution.
Consider this: With a recent nomination for Best Rock Group at the prestigious Brits (the U.K. version of the Grammys) and a sold-out international arena tour that has taken them through Europe, Australia, and Japan, Muse arrives in America with an album where “every track is built on a gigantic scale” (The Times), and a front-and-center slot at the year’s premier music event, the Coachella Music & Arts Festival.
Not that Muse is out to prove something. They are simple and sincere in that, for music, and always has been. A native of the hamlet of Teignmouth in the picturesque Devon countryside, Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Dominic Howard (drums and percussion) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass and vocals) have known since childhood, before combining forces Muse of the scene in 1994, their first gig at a local battle of the bands after being together for one week.
Six years later, on the strength of a series of independent EPs, a growing reputation as an electrifying live attraction, and some timely exposure on the influential national British station Radio One, Muse signed in America with Maverick and released the above-mentioned Showbiz. The album helped build initial word of mouth, yet budding Muse fans in the U.S. were only able to hear their second offering, 2001’s Origin Of Symmetry, as an import.
By that time the band was already far too busy to let the vagaries of the music business slow them down. “If anything,” asserts Wolstenholme, “it brought us back to the basics. We toured pretty much nonstop, selling our records through a series of small deals, country by country, and really concentrating on our live show. Playing for an audience night after night is what kept us and the music true and honest. It gave us an opportunity to grow naturally.”
It had the opportunity to take advantage of the trio took a break after a year in 2002 to collect and download. Already a spot important musical phenomenon in Finland, and a dozen problems worldwide, Muse, the band could afford to take time. "We were much more focused", says Howard. "Once, before always seemed a bit " fast, the installation of new songs during sound checks, and so this time we rented a space in London, where he lived and worked together for three months. We had time to play out a lot of different ideas, do a lot of demos and developing the sound we were after."
While some things may have changed for the relentlessly innovative threesome, others stayed exactly the same. “The songs are always a reflection of what we’re feeling personally and what’s happening around us,” says Bellamy, chief lyricist for Muse. “We didn’t do a concept album as such, but a theme did develop, built around a sense of things coming to an end. I think because we’re a little older, we’ve had a chance to experience different chapters of our lives closing and others opening up. It’s how you deal with those changes that is at the core of these songs.”
With more area Bellamy described as "melancholy hope", the 14 tracks on Absolution, including the single "Time Is Running Out", eloquently expressed life's inevitable transitions and elemental emotions that accompany them. But where else can describe muse music is the classic expression truly integrated charge of three artists whose dynamic interaction makes for some of music's most spectacular on both sides of the Atlantic.
Consider this: With a recent nomination for Best Rock Group at the prestigious Brits (the U.K. version of the Grammys) and a sold-out international arena tour that has taken them through Europe, Australia, and Japan, Muse arrives in America with an album where “every track is built on a gigantic scale” (The Times), and a front-and-center slot at the year’s premier music event, the Coachella Music & Arts Festival.
Not that Muse is out to prove something. They are simple and sincere in that, for music, and always has been. A native of the hamlet of Teignmouth in the picturesque Devon countryside, Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Dominic Howard (drums and percussion) and Chris Wolstenholme (bass and vocals) have known since childhood, before combining forces Muse of the scene in 1994, their first gig at a local battle of the bands after being together for one week.
Six years later, on the strength of a series of independent EPs, a growing reputation as an electrifying live attraction, and some timely exposure on the influential national British station Radio One, Muse signed in America with Maverick and released the above-mentioned Showbiz. The album helped build initial word of mouth, yet budding Muse fans in the U.S. were only able to hear their second offering, 2001’s Origin Of Symmetry, as an import.
By that time the band was already far too busy to let the vagaries of the music business slow them down. “If anything,” asserts Wolstenholme, “it brought us back to the basics. We toured pretty much nonstop, selling our records through a series of small deals, country by country, and really concentrating on our live show. Playing for an audience night after night is what kept us and the music true and honest. It gave us an opportunity to grow naturally.”
It had the opportunity to take advantage of the trio took a break after a year in 2002 to collect and download. Already a spot important musical phenomenon in Finland, and a dozen problems worldwide, Muse, the band could afford to take time. "We were much more focused", says Howard. "Once, before always seemed a bit " fast, the installation of new songs during sound checks, and so this time we rented a space in London, where he lived and worked together for three months. We had time to play out a lot of different ideas, do a lot of demos and developing the sound we were after."
While some things may have changed for the relentlessly innovative threesome, others stayed exactly the same. “The songs are always a reflection of what we’re feeling personally and what’s happening around us,” says Bellamy, chief lyricist for Muse. “We didn’t do a concept album as such, but a theme did develop, built around a sense of things coming to an end. I think because we’re a little older, we’ve had a chance to experience different chapters of our lives closing and others opening up. It’s how you deal with those changes that is at the core of these songs.”
With more area Bellamy described as "melancholy hope", the 14 tracks on Absolution, including the single "Time Is Running Out", eloquently expressed life's inevitable transitions and elemental emotions that accompany them. But where else can describe muse music is the classic expression truly integrated charge of three artists whose dynamic interaction makes for some of music's most spectacular on both sides of the Atlantic.
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