Tiny Moving Parts - Breathe (2019)

Benson, Minnesota emo math rock trio Tiny Moving Parts are incapable of making bad music. Their 2018 release, Swell, was basically flawless and Breathe is no different.

The album starts off with Dylan Mattheisen's signature shouty vocals proclaiming "I can see your smile / I can see your smile shine so brightly through the window" on "The Midwest Sky." It has all the elements of a standout Tiny Moving Parts song: multiple impossible-to-play guitar solos, a driving drumbeat, a catchy chorus and a stripped-down bridge. The band use this formula on almost all of the ten songs on Breathe, and it works.

Lead single "Medicine" is arguably the best song on the album for the message it conveys. Mattheisen is afraid of death, but he doesn't let that fear stop him from living his best life and making the sonically strongest music of his career. "Medicine" is about focusing on the happiness people have provided him, rather than their departure.

"Vertebrae" paints a picture of the crushing feeling that results from breaking up with a significant other. The banjo in the bridge feels a little oddly placed, but it helps bring lightheartedness to the song. The album ends with a beautiful but crushing ode to a loved one who is no longer alive.

Breathe is Tiny Moving Parts' best work to date, and if math rock is your thing, it would be a crime to not check it out.