Mae

Item: Destination: Beautiful
Author: Craig Kleemann

Destination: Beautiful

(2003)

Reviewed by Craig Kleemann

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Label Tooth & Nail RecordsDecapolisFebruary 2003

emo indie rock pop punk

Mae is a 5 piece rock band from Norfolk, Virginia. Their debut album "Destination:Beautiful" comes out Tuesday, February 25th on Tooth and Nail Records.

It's hard not to have heard about Mae in the underground music community. A lot of internet hype has surrounded this band in recent months, fueled by a vigorous street team and buzz from Mae's performances on tour with such acts as Brand New, Keepsake, and the Unsung Zeros. Tooth and Nail has also pushed the release hard online. Mae's MP3 site has registered over 155,000 plays in the time that they've been together; less than two years.

Mae's sound draws heavily on several obvious influences, but remains somewhat enigmatic. It's possible to note guitar parts strongly reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World, as well as vocals that fit into the overall tradition of poppy indie rock while drawing on outside influences like Michael Jackson (in a non creepy way). Some songs seem to suggest modern British bands, albeit while sounding less depressed. These aspects give Mae a sound that is familiar, but not easily placed. The band also incorporates Rob Sweitzer's synthesizers and piano to a great effect, filling out the overall sound and adding innovative textures.

First the high points of the album. Bassist Mark Padgett worked for Mae as a producer/engineer before the departure of Dave Pogge (www.redadmiralmusic.com) and it is obvious that the band spent a lot of time in the studio tweaking the album with his assistance. This is not to say the album is over produced, it isn't. The recording quality is simply stellar, especially the drum and guitar tones. The vocals sound great, very crisp and clear, using multiple layers in many songs to incorporate harmonies, fleshing out the vocals nicely. Every note on this album seems to be spot on and perfectly in time. A standout instrumentally is the piano interlude at the end of "Sun." It's somewhat risky, a mellow solo at the end of an upbeat song, but shows great musical depth.

The second positive aspect of the album is its relatively fine focus. The songs gel together well despite tempo and key changes to sound like they all belong on the same album. No songs are really "filler" or substandard. Mae has created a style that they feel comfortable with and refines it without becoming repetitive. An equal amount of fast and slow songs co-exist peacefully, the album just feels very well rounded.

Instrumentally, the music is especially poppy in the tradition of popular radio rock. Unlike generic three chord bands, Mae writes great guitar hooks. Standout examples include "Skyline Drive" and "This Time Is The Last Time," the latter being the album's best chance at radio exposure. Drummer Jacob Marshall very inventively uses almost dance-oriented back beats to give a very unique feel to the rhythm of the songs. Jacob's drumming is perhaps the most original element on the recording despite its frequent simplicity, and mixes beautifully with the feel of the songs. Matt Beck, formerly of Solid State Records recording artist Spitfire, adds especially impressive riffs to the mix without being too flashy, a departure from other bands that tend to be either overtly conservative or obnoxiously show offish. This is an album of great musical moments, specific times in a song that just glow, transferring calculated energy from the band across the digital spectrum into very legitimate emotional episodes. I think that people that hear this album more than one time will find themselves anticipating these instances within a song with bated breath. Most albums barely ever reach this kind of interaction with a distant audience, relying instead on live situations to establish such a connection. Mae does it an inordinately high number of times on this record, much to their credit.

Oddly, some of the good points in the album show its weaknesses. The album sounds very clean, possibly too clean. Much like Further Seems Forever's new record (also on Tooth and Nail), the digital crispness of the songs sucks out a lot of the organic qualities that make many records so endearing. In Mae's case, this means that the recordings lack a certain amount of warmth, a too common quality in modern music. Consistent with this idea is the problem stemming from the laborious hours that were obviously poured into this album. Every note is calculated, and maybe that's a mistake. A specific problem comes out in Jacob's drumming. With the guitars so rigidly consistent, the drums are unable to match each consecutive hit perfectly, resulting in perfectly good drums parts sounding ever so slightly "off" measure to measure due to being recorded with other tracks that are inordinately precise. A solution would have been to simply sample and loop the drums, but there's a possibility that this would have led to the album sounding even more squeaky clean. In tandem, the guitar parts reach the same fate of the latest Jimmy Eat World album, the painstaking production leaves them overly analyzed and manipulated, taking away some of the rock sensibility. Like that album, Mae's guitars seem to rely on being faded in and out of mix rather than being integrated more naturally. Sadly, this limits the band's ability to really rock out because of its cerebral mixing involvement.

A second problem arises at the notice of how wonderfully poppy the instruments sound on this album. Every song sounds like it could be a radio hit, except for a conspicuous lack of strong vocal hooks. When I first noticed this, I was astonished. I realized that I was far more likely to sing along to a guitar part or keyboard solo than a chorus. This almost seems like a letdown, I wanted this album to be as radio ready as it sounded, but it isn't. Vocalist/guitarist Dave Gimenez has a great, distinctive voice, but his combinations of melodies and lyrics don't strike me. Exceptions do exist, especially the "whoa-ohs" on "Last Call" and the chorus of "Giving it Away," but overall I was disappointed with the lack of pop finesse in the vocal design of the record. This misgiving feeds into the album's lyrical problems. On a whole I felt the lyrics left me wanting more. It seems as if Mae decided to write pop songs, and in doing so lost some of the emotion or inspiration that would've otherwise driven their songwriting. The lyrics sound pretty at first listen, but upon inspection felt insincere and un-evocative. Many songs left me at a loss, I wanted to empathize, but I couldn't figure out what the songs were really about. This is not due to a lack of literal songwriting, the lyrics don't tend towards being overly metaphorical or symbolic, they are simply too vague. Dave refers to a "you," a "this" or a "here" without ever using truly defining terms to qualify what he is talking about. I'm absolutely sure that these songs are about personally deep issues that the author feels strongly about, but the language lacks the ability to bring this listener into the situation effectively.

Mae has written and recorded a fine album, but it could be better. I think the band's main fault was the self-production of the record. With a good third party producer, Mae could have delivered an album that would blow every listener away. The band has the potential to make a sophomore release that far surpasses "Destination: Beautiful", but only if they get away from the self involvement and seeming inability to effectively self-critique. It is possible that a majority of listeners won't find the same problems I did with this record, which is hopeful. Mae is a fantastic live band after being together for a very short time and many lineup changes. This is an exceptional debut album, I just hope for better things in the future from Mae. The Sky's the Limit.

B-