Personnel: Gene Park (viola); Bill Racine (trumpet); Sam Miller, Jim Aveni, Dave Heise (percussion).

Audio Mixer: Bill Racine.

Recording information: Atlantic Sound (??/2005-08/2005); Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT (??/2005-08/2005).

Photographer: Sean McCabe.

On their fourth full-length, BRING IT BACK, husband-and-wife duo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel continue the trend begun on their previous album, TEAM BOO, and push their glimmering synth-pop giddiness in a richer, more complex direction. Hammel's tasty drumming leads the way through the duo's increasingly sophisticated song structures, and Gardner's layered organ playing shows greater variety than before. The key elements that make Mates of State's music so infectious, however, still occupy the center ring: Gardner and Hammel playfully trading vocals back and forth, the sing-along melodies as catchy as TV theme songs, and the kind of gleeful energy usually found only on high school pep squads.