Those tiny bits of Muse songs that non-Musers wouldn't give a damn about...

[Spiralia-statica 18]

Wow so many things 😁  

-the end of Unnatural selection with guitar

-musical crescendo of Showbiz and Con-science 

-a lot of Matt vocals notes in almost every songs

-the piano parts

... 

[Jobby 99]

The wee distorted backing vocals eachoing the lyrics in the Dead Star chorus

Yoooou used tooooo be

Eeeeeevery thiiiiiing to

Meeee now Iiiiii am

Tiiiiiiired of fiiiiiiiighting

Freaked me out when I first noticed them back in the day ‘cos I didn’t know what they were saying and thought it was some secret thing but now it’s just neat to singalong to.

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out 14]

 

Here's some!

-The second guitar riff break in SS when Matt does a different pattern of distorted noises than the first one

-the morse code in Dom's snare pattern on Starlight 😂

-the high pitched violin fall right at the start of Unsustainable

-the outro chord progression on Mercy

-the wree-eerw sound and the panning back and forth on the soloed guitar riff at the end of Micro Cuts just before the bass and drums come back in for the last time

[Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out 14]

Actually one of my favorite things about Muse and what really sets them apart from most other bands for me is just their attention to detail. Even in the early days they always had the sense to leave in a lot of the little noises and feedback bits and random stuff that would give the songs extra flavor and you would find on your like sixth listen. And even though they don't have a ton of that "live in the studio" sort of stuff anymore (although I can't help but think the count off to The Dark Side is a little nod to that), they're so meticulous about adding interesting easter eggs and a variety of layers to every song that it doesn't matter. That and Matt's innate ability to write engaging arrangements are possibly the two biggest factors that keep even Muse's most by the numbers material interesting for me.

[CorvidCrow 1]

Definitely got to be the bass tone and melody for The Dark Side, it's so obviously bass, but the octave effect makes half the octaves totally ambiguous and synthy, it fits so flawlessly with the song, and the rest of the understated synth bass parts.

 

That and the little flourishes Chris does towards the end of Showbiz! Love em