 Mae
Destination: Beautiful (Tooth & Nail)
Released March 2003
reviewed by Russ Breimeier
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Sounds like … the popular post-punk power pop/rock bands like
Switchfoot and Jimmy Eat World, with a nod to post-new wave '80s
bands like The Police, The Cure, and U2
At a Glance … the market is becoming glutted with melodic rock
bands like this, but Mae's thoughtfully crafted sound stands
in front of the pack
Mae is made up of five early 20-somethings who "accidentally" formed the group in Norfolk, Virginia. Vocalist, guitarist, andsongwriter, Dave Gimenez, hooked up with friend and drummer Jacob Marshall in 2001 to record a few songs. They planned to play all the instruments themselves. Instead, the sessions were held at bassist Mark Padgett's studio where session players Matt Beck
(guitars) and Rob Sweitzer (keyboards) sat in. And, voila, the
band was formed, soon releasing their first EP, Embers and
Envelopes. Those four tracks were enough to earn Mae a recording
contract with Tooth & Nail. They added seven more songs to create
the self-produced album Destination: Beautiful.
Mae's self-defined "melodic, energetic rock" joins an ever-growing and crowded market of melodic post-punk, quasi-emo,
power-pop rock bands — groups like Jimmy Eat World, Switchfoot,
Denison Marrs, Cadet, Weezer, Holland, Foo Fighters, and Sanctus
Real. It's clear from the press materials and interviews that
this band is very intentional in creating rock that is both hard
and soft in order to appeal to broader audiences. They aren't as
loud as those examples, nor are they as radio-friendly as bands
such as Jars of Clay, Matchbox Twenty, and downhere. Dave's soft tenor is very similar to that of Paul Alan (Nouveaux), capable of reaching the rock stratosphere without screaming or crooning.
What most sets Mae apart from the pack, though, is their intelligently conceived sound, characterized by rhythmic
musicianship in all parts of the band. It's enough to
characterize the band as progressive and creative without being
inaccessible or overbearing. Like so many bands today, Mae cites
U2 as a strong influence, and they're as good a comparison as any
to the driving pop/rock found in the opening track "Embers and
Envelopes." Other post-new wave '80s band influences like The
Cure and The Police can be heard in the straightforward melodic
rock of "Last Call" and the tight precision of "This Time Is the
Last Time." Listen especially to "All Deliberate Speed," an
intelligent modern rock song that uses polyrhythms to speed up
the song's feel in the final minute. Gentler rock ballads like
"Skyline Drive" and "Giving It Away" are more artsy sounding,
adding organ and toy xylophone to the guitar mix to recall the
psychedelic pop of The Beatles' "White Album."
Lyrically, the band is very focused on relationships, both earthly and spiritual. Many songs are about reconciliation and healing, with some set to the backdrop of a car drive ("Summertime" and "Skyline Drive"). The best is the
aforementioned "Embers and Envelopes," in which Dave sings, "We
write to patch things up, maybe not to agree but to proclaim
love/Let's look ahead and then we'll see the one whose glory
never ends." Similar reconciliation is used in songs like
"Runaway" to explore the conflict between pleasing God and
succumbing to our sinful nature: "And I get so close, but I
run away/The things I fear the most, keep me here to stay."
With a stream-of-consciousness lyrical delivery, "Sun" laments our wayward free will and looks forward to the day when the Lord reclaims this fallen world (inspiring the album's title): "I'm a mess, I guess it's what I asked for, it's what I needed/Well, you know me better than that, or at least you did and something
happened/But once again, something's happened/The confidence you
held in us is the rope we almost hung ourselves with." In "Giving
It Away," Dave clings to the hope offered through redemption and
providence: "By the way you brought me here/It makes me believe
the best is still yet to come and I don't want to leave."
This style of melodic rock is already the rage in popular music, Christian and mainstream. The court is already crowded with it, so the subtleties between such bands are simply a matter of
personal preference. That said, Mae handles it with inspired brilliance for a band that only formed two years ago (and performed live for the first time in December of 2001). They do indeed strike a
fine balance between pop sensibilities and skillful modern rock.
If they sound this good now, imagine what they'll sound like a
few years from now. There's not quite enough here to earn Mae the
highest acclaim, but Destination: Beautiful is solid enough for a strong recommendation to fans of the genre.
Mae
Destination: Beautiful (Tooth & Nail)
Released March 2003
reviewed by Russ Breimeier
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