Eamon Blog

Today's Shelf Pull: Muse, Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)

Piano, heavy riffs and drama with very little interest in moderation.

Muse make a useful argument for excess here: the piano has weight, the guitars have ambitions, and the quieter turns do more than offer a breather.

Muse do not leave much room for indifference on Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX). The attraction is the friction between heavy riffs, piano and theatrical scale. Each seems capable of taking charge, and the songs are rarely content to let one settle comfortably.

This 2021 Warner Records edition spreads the album across two vinyl records. That gives the listening a practical shape: four sides, four beginnings, and a few necessary pauses. With music this inclined towards the grand gesture, getting up occasionally is no great hardship.

The anniversary reworking is worth approaching as an album rather than a comparison exercise. You need not keep an earlier version running in your head. Follow the arrangements instead, particularly the way piano drama and guitar weight pull at the same piece of music.

There is a slightly unreasonable appetite at work here, and that is part of the pleasure. Classical influences and electronic textures sit inside a rock framework without politely waiting their turn. Restraint would be an odd thing to demand of it.

Side A contains New Born and Bliss, a compact opening pair on paper. Two titles are enough to establish the scale of the undertaking. Listen for the relationship between forward motion and ornament: the decorative details belong to the momentum rather than sitting outside it.

Side B moves through Space Dementia, Hyper Music and Plug In Baby. The piano-led drama of Space Dementia makes a useful listening anchor here. Its elaborate gestures give the heavier material a setting, so the guitars feel like part of a larger argument.

Plug In Baby is a tempting destination, but arriving through the preceding songs changes the emphasis. The appeal is not only the individual high point. It is also the accumulated pressure of a sequence that keeps finding another reason to raise its voice.

The piano is worth following across the record, not merely noticing when it comes forward. It helps explain why these arrangements feel so architectural. Guitar weight supplies mass; the keyboard writing suggests staircases, landings and the occasional unnecessarily high ceiling.

Side C begins with Citizen Erased, then runs through Micro Cuts, Screenager and Darkshines. This is a good stretch for listening beyond the obvious peaks. The darker turns matter because they complicate the album's appetite for spectacle rather than simply turning that appetite down.

Citizen Erased brings the piano and orchestral dimensions into the foreground of the listening. Notice how those elements belong to the song's dramatic scale. They are not just soft furnishings around a heavy centre; they help determine what feels tense and what feels released.

With Micro Cuts, Screenager and Darkshines, the useful thread is tension rather than size alone. Attend to the changing weight of the arrangements and the darker atmosphere. The record becomes more interesting when its unease receives as much attention as its capacity for impact.

Feeling Good, Futurism and Megalomania occupy side D, with Futurism placed inside the main running order. That is a concrete feature of this edition, and a reason to follow its particular sequence rather than substitute a remembered one.

The side breaks also resist the habit of reducing an album to a handful of destinations. Here in Listowel, that seems a perfectly sensible use of a record: something that asks for a little time without requiring a solemn ceremony.

What stays with me is the balance between force and elaboration. The riffs give the music physical purpose, while the piano and theatrical flourishes keep redirecting attention. Neither side of that bargain feels incidental.

For someone approaching earlier Muse through this edition, the whole running order is the useful introduction. It allows the darker passages their place beside the familiar titles, rather than treating them as corridors between attractions.

Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX) rewards following those changes without demanding that every moment be a favourite. Let the four sides make their case. There is enough personality here to survive a little disagreement.

On the shelf today:

Muse - Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)

2LP, 2021

Rock

EUR 34.95

Available from The Kilmorna Collection, Listowel

Buy or reserve: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl/muse-origin-of-symmetry-xx-anniversary-remixx

Buying vinyl records in Ireland: https://www.thekilmornacollection.com/vinyl-records-ireland

On the shelf today

Muse - Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)

2LP / Rock / 2021

EUR34.95 / Available now

Order / Reserve