MATES OF STATE - Re-Arrange Us LP

Label: Barsuk

Mates of State is the organ and drums, vocal-laden duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. Formed in the nation's heartland in December of 1997, their infectious songs and long-standing motto of play anywhere, anytime has earned them a legion of fans from coast to coast and everywhere else in between.

Though conceived as a duo, Mates of State have never failed to generate a trademark wall of sound built on dozens of varied voicings of keys, drums, and alternately lushly-layered and playfully-dueling vocals.

On Re-Arrange Us they move beyond these boundaries (their traditional organ sound is a distant memory, replaced with organic piano and synth sounds) with additional instrumentation — not to mention a quantum leap in songcraft apparent on instantly indelible gems like "Now", "Jigsaw" and "Get Better". Throughout Re-Arrange Us, Kori's piano and the emergence of both Mates' lead vocals from their trademark harmonizing signal the next stage of Mates of State's evolution.