The Maine have grown a lot in the past four years, which isn’t too unexpected for a band whose first album came out shortly after a couple of the members graduated from high school. Almost four years ago to the day, they made their debut on Fearless with The Way We Talk EP, followed by Can’t Stop Won’t Stop the following summer, a record that was a little all over the place. When Black & White came out in 2010, it threw some people for a loop. There wasn’t a hint of the “neon” scene that the band was lumped with, and the songs weren’t as catchy as the ones from their debut. Now, almost a year and a half later, we have Pioneer, an album the label rejected. Thanks to determination on the band’s part (and no doubt, the advantages of still having their Action Theory imprint with which to distribute it), the album is in our hands.
Any fans of the band who find Pioneer completely unexpected haven’t been paying much attention. The Maine released In Darkness & In Light the end of last year, with both new and retooled versions of songs from Black & White. As musicians, the band seem to be getting more experimental, and with Matt VanGasbeck bringing some extra “oomph” to both their live shows and recordings, and they seem to have developed a comfortable rhythm with their live shows.
Usually production is not something that sticks out to me, but with Pioneer I notice it immediately, and not because it’s bad. Producer Colby Wedgeworth (along widid the band) did a fine job. They definitely seem to have had some fun with the vocals, layering them with some effects. And the music is more sonically interesting, as they’ve upped their use of pedals and effects with these songs.
“Misery” and “Don’t Give Up On (Us)” sound like they could do well as singles, and perhaps win over people who have never listed to the band or those who previously wrote them off.
The guitar work on Pioneer is also a step up from previous efforts – it’s more interesting and it’s clear that the band’s jam sessions and experimentation in preparing for the album had a strong influence on the final product. It becomes especially apparent on songs like “When I’m At Home,” a seemingly straightforward slower pop song. The song starts off slow, with vocals over steady guitar getting louder, but not really picking up speed. Around two minutes into the song, there’s a bit of an interlude with some scratchy guitars and random starts to solos and indiscernible screams before the chorus comes back in. It wasn’t something I previously would have expected from The Maine, but it works for the most part, it just seems to give the song a bit of an ominous feel.
Come summer, I can see myself rolling down the windows and turning up “Thinking Of You” with its bright piano and simple “I’ve been thinking of you-ooooo” filling the air with pleasantness. The last two (or really, three, I guess) tracks take a more melancholic hopeful sound, one that fits the current season quite well. Except for maybe the crickets towards the end of “While Listening to Rock & Roll…” Those make me think of late nights in the summer. At the end of the album, there’s a hidden fourteenth track. An unexpected slow-burner, it unnecessarily closes an album that already had an appropriate closing track.
The Maine have done something right with Pioneer, continuing with the pop songs, but making them far more complex and interesting than they were on Black & White. Though there were a few spots I found less than engaging on Pioneer, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with this record and the future of the band.
Tags: Pioneer, the maine
Evan
Mariam
Spencer
