The Resistance (album)

Muse release
Name	The Resistance
Tracks	11
Total length	Unknown
Recorded	2008-2009
Writer/composer	Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, Christopher Wolstenholme
Producer	Muse
Art work	Unknown
Publisher	Warner, Helium 3
Format(s)	CD, download
Catalogue №	HEL3010
Release date	14th September 2009
Chart position	Unknown
{{{Type}}} chronology
The Resistance

Information

The fifth Muse studio album, The Resistance, is to be released on September 14th 2009. Like previous Muse albums it draws from a wide range of genres and influences, including glam rock, R&B, disco and classical. The Resistance sees the return of instrumentation previously used on Origin of Symmetry, including a church organ and llama toenails. Matt Bellamy summarised the album as having "an emphasis on rhythm and contemporary R&B at the start. Then it gets epic and strange, then it becomes contemporary classical music."

Writing

On the 24th of May 2006 Matt was interviewed by Australian record station Triple J, before the release of Black Holes and Revelations. He stated that he wanted create a more progressive album with a lot of longer, piano based songs, with similarities to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Also, in the fan webchat, when fans had the opportunity to ask questions of the band, one fan posed the question "Which song off the new album (BH&R) is most similiar to the sound of the new album?". The band stated it was too early to tell, but some songs being written were in a similiar style to "Map of the Problematique".

In an interview with French magazine Rock Mag in July 2007, Matt revealed a few details about the new album's direction, stating that some of the songs are more dance and electronica influenced, while others are a lot more symphonic and classical, and may include an orchestra. In another interview he mentioned one specific song he had written that would work well live with an orchestra, and mentioned he would like to use one for older songs such as "Hoodoo". He also said that they may release a new song, that sounds "like Elton John", as a charity download single. This is presumably the same song that was mentioned months earlier in a Planet Sound article. This article announced that a new song had been recorded. Dom stated "It came too late to put on Holes—we thought we should finish it in a tour break to put it out as a single. It's so long ago now, I can't exactly remember how it sounds." This song was ultimately not released.

In Q magazine Matt stated that "I live in Como, northern Italy, in a house that used to belong to the opera composer Vincenzo Bellinii. I'm trying to trace his ghost right now to help me write songs. I do this late at night, 3am. I turn the lights down low and start playing his songs on the piano in the hope of making contact. It hasn't worked so far but I'm confident it will". Opera has influenced Matt in the past, notably the song "Micro Cuts". Later in a Feburary 2008 interview with UK magazine Rock Sound, Matt stated that his lyrical content may take a departure from the paranormal and other worldly elements, and that whilst he never used to be comfortable discussing personal issues within his songs, he is becoming more comfortable doing so and wishes to explore that side of songwriting.

Numerous media reports about the fifth album began to appear after the Daily Star published a story quoting Dom as saying "We’re going to start writing it properly next year but we’ve been getting lots of ideas down. “We think it might have quite an electronic feel". Howard also said the band were "buzzing" and indicated they would be ready to begin work on the album immediately after touring, with no break for reflection. In an interview in October 2007, Matt indicated that their progression to electronic music would probably be limited to added synths, and they would ultimately remain a rock band.

The band discussed a few of the songs they wanted on the album in early 2008. Matt stated he would like "at least one 15-minute space-rock solo" and "dancing, grooving, rhythm section-dominated songs". Matt later confirmed that he was indeed working on a 14 minute long "progressive" song that was "like a slimy opera version [of previous Muse songs]", as well as "funk and r'n'b" songs, but as of the March 2008, nothing had been recorded. On 4th June, Dom posted updates to the Musewire twitter page concerning the new album, speaking of 'otherworldly disco', '15 minute orchestral monsters' and 'things in between'.

Later in July, Matt detailed a song the band were working on that "sounds a little like ‘New Year’s Day’" by U2. He also stated that there was "a bit of glam rock creeping in there as well". Chris said in the same interview: At the moment, I'm into getting loose in the studio with an engineer and seeing what happens. It might be shit!".

Recording

The album was recorded in Lake Como and Milan, Italy, between late-2008 and mid-2009. The beginning of the recording process was first indicated to have begun with the announcement of the Rock in Rio Festival, with the band scheduled to be recording in June 2008. However, on the 21st June 2008, Chris announced that although band had five or six new songs for the new album, they had not heard any of Matt's lyrics for the songs, saying that he's sure "he already has them in his head and that they are dark, as always". He contradicted earlier indications that recording would begin in June, instead stating that the band "don't plan to start recording before September or October", and that the album would be released in 2009. Chris later announced in early July, through Musewire, that they were "trying to put together a new album" in Italy, in Lake Como, where Matt's house is. By September, the band were rehearsing for the album in their home county of Devon, UK, and in October, Dom stated the band were working on a "symphonic monster among other things", presumably the aforementioned orchestral song, and would "start a bit of real recording in a couple of weeks". In the Muse Q&A session in November 2008, Matt implied this song was difficult to compose as he was arranging the orchestral elements himself due to the fear of a composer changing the music. The song, if finished, will be in three parts at the end of the album. In addition, Dom said that the song "starts quite mellow and ends up very heavy indeed whilst moving through a few genres to get there". By mid-December 2008, Muse were working on the album in Matt's personal studio at Lake Como, Italy. The Muse Christmas present ultimately lead to a screensaver that featured silent clips of the band recording the album, including Matt playing a keyboard whilst singing and wearing a santa hat. On 31st January Tom Kirk posted a video he uploaded to YouTube of Dom playing a snare drum in a sheep field whilst listening to some sort of device. On 2nd March, a second video was posted onto YouTube by Tom Kirk featuring the band clicking into a microphone in a toilet cubicle, and another on the 28th of March with the band discussing recording after dinner. Dom posted a blog on his Myspace profile on the 14th March 2009 stating that "Matt is doing vocals on some tracks as we speak which normally means they're nearly finished". In addition, after two more tracks are recorded from scratch, he said that "we might be almost looking at a complete album", before adding the finishing touches on the songs until they are finished.

Recording was completed by May 2009, at which point mixing had begun. On the 11th June 2009 Dom posted an update on MySpace stating that The Resistance had been mixed and he thought that the band had "actually finished the album", indicating a Sepetember release. On 23^rd June 2009, Chris announced via the band's Twitter account that the album was "well and truly finished" and the band were preparing for mastering in New York.

At some point it was expected that there would be some form of collaboration with Does It Offend You, Yeah?. In April, Dan Coop of Does It Offend You, Yeah? stated that they would be "hopefully going to go over to Matt's studio in Italy", but it was unknown where it would be Muse featuring Does It Offend It You, Yeah? or vice versa. No further news of this collaboration emerged.

Pre-release

None of the songs featured on The Resistance were played in full prior its recording, despite the band initially expressing desires to do so. The first song title to be known was "United States of Eurasia", obtained from an image of the song's sheet music posted on Musewire.

On 3rd February Microcuts.net posted a message saying that "Warner decided to release the new yet-to-be-named album in September 2009. An european tour should follow in fall." On the 22nd May 2009, the title was announced to be The Resistance. On 16^th June, it was announced on the official website that the release date is 14^th September 2009. On the 3^rd July the tracklist was announced one song at a time via Musewire. When "United States of Eurasia" was announced, it was appended by (+Collateral Damage), with the nature of "Collateral Damage" being unknown; "I Belong To You" was similarly appended by (+Mon Coeur S'Ouvre A Ta Voix).

Release

The band initially entertained the idea of no releasing a full album but instead release a series of stand-alone songs to be released soon after touring concluded. Early in 2008 Matt hinted the band had no real idea about what any future release could be, or if it would even be an album, stating "It may just be albums, but it may be a stream of singles, or it may just be one 50-minute symphony, do you know what I mean? Who knows?".

In March 2008, Matt elaborated on his wishes to diverge from the traditional album format, stating "I don't think we're going to approach the next album like we're making an album... we're just gonna make a load of music." He went on to explain that the future approach would be "Almost like making the single a more prominent format and then every few years doing a 'best of' from that period and that would be the album. So in other words, throw out songs every couple of months and see how people like them, and whichever ones people like, stick that on a record of 11 tracks." It later became apparent that band were in fact working on a full album.

Track list

CD

1. Uprising
2. Resistance
3. Undisclosed Desires
4. United States of Eurasia
5. Guiding Light
6. Unnatural Selection
7. MK ULTRA
8. I Belong To You
9. Exogenesis: Symphony Part I (Overture)
10. Exogenesis: Symphony Part II (Cross Pollination)
11. Exogenesis: Symphony Part III (Redemption)

Possible songs

Song	Information
Elton John-esque	Recorded after Black Holes and Revelations but unreleased.
U2-esque	A glam rock song sounding similar to U2's "New Year's Day".
Drum and Bass	A jam first played in 2000, and was played at every gig since April 2008.
Otherworldly Disco Song	Mentioned on a twitter update.
Feat. Does It Offend You, Yeah?	A possible collaborative track to be written in Matt's studio in Italy. Will probably not be on final album.

See also

• Fourth album theory, written prior to release of Black Holes and Revelations

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