‘Movie Ending Romance EP’ reviews

by Tim Sendra, allmusic
Math and Physics Club’s first EP on Matinee was a pleasant surprise, youngsters from Seattle playing classic Sarah brand indie pop. Very tuneful, warm and inviting. Their second single isn’t a surprise but it is equally as pleasant. Movie Ending Romance features the same winning blend of UK and Aussie indie pop melodicsim and literate romance. The title track is the highlight, a short and sweet love song that would have slotted in well on an early Belle & Sebastian EP. The stately “White and Grey” (love that harmonica solo - a perfect pastoral touch) and the almost rollicking “Graduation Day” give it a run though. To cap things off they take a spirited run through the Beach Boys’ &”You’re So Good to Me,” giving the song some sonic embellishments and warmth Brian was too rushed to attempt back in the day. In all, another exceedingly nice single.

by Dave Heaton, erasing clouds
The Seattle-based pop group Math and Physics Club may have only released two EPs so far in their career, but already they sound determined to write and record songs that people will remember, songs that listeners will hold dear to their hearts. And while it’s always best to err on the side of caution when praising a group that’s only just begun, judging by their first two releases they seem well on their way. Their latest 4-song EP, Movie Ending Romance, may be even better than their first (Weekends Away, released earlier this year), though it’s hard to tell because they’re both so strong. Where Weekends Away for me occasionally recalled MAPC’s fellow Matinee musicians the Lucksmiths, in the literate, sensitive approach to catchy pop songs, Movie Ending Romance is more openly evocative of the Smiths, perhaps only because of lead singer Charles’ singing style here. Influences don’t matter, I know, I know, but at the same time it is important to mark the fact that while Math and Physics Club’s songs occasionally indebted to a whole host of intelligent, open-hearted, and classic pop groups of the past, they also strongly hold their own next to the songs they recall. In other words, the feeling that Math and Physics Club is aiming to write classic pop singles may be merely because these songs are so damn good that throwing the word classic around doesn’t seem disingenuous. The three original songs here - the title track, “White and Grey”, and “Graduation Day” - represent the art of songwriting at its best. And then the EP closes with an absolutely dynamite cover of the Beach Boys’ “You’re So Good to Me”, which has its own unique energy, and an intriguing sound that answers the never-before-asked musical question, “what would have happened if the Smiths and the Beach Boys had formed a supergroup?”

by Johnny Mac, friends of the heroes
Life must be great for the Math and Physics Club, their sunny dispositions, hopeful outlook and wholly optimistic take on life coupled with the most uplifting guitar jangles since McGuinn and Marr make for a life worth living, even through the moments of desolation, melancholy and self loathing. I don’t really know how they get to be this way, maybe it’s where they are from, maybe it’s just where they are at, I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I do know this: life without the Math and Physics Club would be a much duller place. Picture open sun kissed palm tree lined boulevards, picture glowing sunsets over endless white beaches and crystal aqua marine seas, feel the wind in your hair as you ride through the Californian sunshine in your soft top convertible and you’re getting to be some of the way there. I cannot imagine any other band making a song about the last five seconds of love sound so utterly entrancing and alluring. It almost makes you long for those moments of desperation as your whole raison d’etre crumbles around you, it makes you realise that these are the times when you are most alive, when you feel the most, when you are either coasting on the waves of life or being dragged under the rip tide by them. This record has the ability to make you smile through the tears, to make you want to swing around the room with gay abandon, it’s a sunset walk on a beach, it’s an indie pop disco dance to your favourite band, it’s a kiss in the rain and a glance across a crowded room from the one you love, it is, without doubt the perfect summer record.

by Gordon B. Isnor, Left Hip Magazine
If you had any question about the current vitality of the twee scene, picking up a few wonderful new releases from Matinée records out of sunny Santa Barbara, California will assuage any doubts. Movie Ending Romance from Math and Physics Club is one of my three faves from the dazzling current Matinée roster, along with label mates The Young Tradition and The Lucksmiths. Math and Physics Club’s brand of boppy gentle indiepop evokes 80’s mope favourites The Smiths and Billy Bragg after he fleshed out his sound. Singer Charles has a voice not entirely like Morrissey - fey and British despite the band’s Seattle/Olympia origins. The jangly Rickenbacker guitars are very pretty, and the band rounds out their sound beautifully with violins that make me pine for another Seattle band, the now defunct Carissa’s Weird. This isn’t just the kind of randomly meandering, slightly out of tune, amateurish violin sound that you might expect from an indie band, either; violinist Saundrah make a phenomenal contribution with her very clever, classical-inspired parts, highly proficient technique and exquisite pizzicato sections. On an album this short and uniformly excellent it may be pointless to point out specific songs but I’m going to; the title track and opener, “Movie Ending Romance” is really the hit song on the collection, hoppy and boppy with the nicest guitar parts that remind me of what Johnny Marr did for Billy Bragg. White and Grey is a wistful, melancholy ballad featuring more very nice piano parts and harmonica that recalls Billy’ Joel’s Piano Man. Despite their fey sound, Math and Physics Club also prove they’ve got balls for daring to cover the Beach Boys You’re So Good To Me. They don’t come close to Brian Wilson’s perfect production, who could? But they do put a really nice fresh spin on it with super nice driving 8th note violin parts; in their able hands, the song sounds more like Beulah’s first album than The Beach Boys. Since I started doing reviews for Left Hip I hear so many albums that often I’m begging for them to end as they drag on to 13, 14, 15 songs; not Math and Physics Club, at a mere twelve minutes, at the end of this disc I was begging for more. Begging! You’ll find yourself in the same predicament when you hear their near-perfect pop. There should be a warning on this album: Highly addictive. May cause or encourage twee lifestyles. Movie Ending Romance is one of my favorite albums of the year, no question. Math and Physics have never been so much fun!