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Rating: “The Sustainable Lightness of Pop.”
Wait a minute! You can put your hands down from your hair and stop your index finger from repeatedly hitting the mouse buttons. I admit the opening phrase might be misleading, but believe me, I’m not about to review yet another boy-band created at a boardroom.
I know very well what the word POP means to us regular consumers of alternative music. We shudder just saying it, and immediately our thoughts turn to radios, televisions, and the low-quality content they offer us daily. But whether we sophisticated connoisseurs like it or not, sometimes it's precisely the primordial essence of the pop genre that underpins many indie projects we cherish and drives, just for example, these three guys away from the emo genre where they had been great protagonists to pursue a simple and instinctive musical composition.
Maritime, born from the ashes of Promise Ring and Dismemberment Plan, play under the inspiring star of bands like XTC and Smith (“James” being one of the clearest points of contact with Morrissey and company), and even if their sound will never blow you away with an originality of ideas, this does not stop the trio from crafting an enjoyable debut.
“Sleep Around,” “Someone Has To Die,” and “We’ve Got To Get Out” survey the melodic '90s, from Teenage Fanclub to the latest The Trills, songs that will resurface in your head with their infectious choruses whenever the stress of everyday life grants you a break.
“Glass Floor” could easily settle on these rhythms, becoming the perfect soundtrack for the longed-for weekend full of sun and sea, but luckily for them, Maritime avoid any attempts to fall into easy yawns.
Thus, they unexpectedly place, between a hip shake and a yeah yeah, some acoustic ballads that have never harmed the overall economy of any indie album. “The Window Is The Door” (very reminiscent of the cinematic Badly Drawn Boy), “A Night Like This,” and the intense “King Of Doves” promise to raise more than a doubt in the minds of those who had hastily labeled the trio as yet another boring Beach Boys cover band.
Pop music is a glass floor, too many tread on it with the grace of elephants, sinking into the ignoble commercial product. Maritime simply tiptoe across it, making us spend an unremarkable but pleasant three-quarters of an hour of sustainable lightness.
Tracklist and Lyrics
06 James (03:31)
have you gone to pasture james?
you go to greater lengths to feel the same
have you gone to pasture james?
you go to any length to feel like you felt yesterday
the lights have a heartbeat not unlike that
which starts me and the whole house
starts moving and i've been wearing your clothes i can't fit inside
your shoes there is no mystery to anything i do
have you gone to pasture james?
you go to greater lengths to feel the same
any length to feel like you felt yesterday
like hospital corners you construct your life
in quarters and the whole house feels holy
when we stretch out on the floor we have no way of knowing
how long we've been sleeping for
have you gone to pasture james?
you go to greater lengths to feel the same
any length to feel like you felt yesterday
and you want to go to heaven but you're not
sure where it is there are no miracles when you're always giving in
you feel so unaffected you don't show up anymore
and you feel numb, honey it's been done
have you gone to pasture james?
you go to any length to feel like you felt yesterday
have you gone have you gone have you gone
09 Adios (02:44)
all the cars go where the sun was
stations of transparent lives
infinity in old blue jeans i'd live a lie if it agreed
so in the morning, i am not alone
the balledeers all hit their last note
the crowd is headed to the door
adios, that's how it goes a hotel guest a part time ghost
this morning i was not alone
it's not too late for another song
when the drinks are deep and the winters long
but the company still keeps
lets hit the road and leave our names at home
you know that i lose everything i own
we're always coming into something new
you know i lose everything i do
lets hit the road and leave our names at home
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