One can’t help but be impressed by the amount of musical growth achieved by Arizona natives The Maine since their debut album Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop was released in 2008. The band hit the scene with catchy, infectious pop songs about girls as so many bands do. Their major label debut in 2010, Black & White, showed a brand new side of The Maine. They explored noticeable inspiration from Tom Petty and it was a great fit for the band. Not interested in standing still, the band has gone even farther with Pioneer available today.
After creating 40 tracks as possibilities for the 13-track record, the band and their label (Warner) has a difference of opinion. The end result was The Maine co-producing their most impressive album to date. Pioneer was released by the band’s own label Action Theory Records and distributed by Warner.
The album blends sounds from many genres including country, pop, and classic rock sounds. It’s honestly hard to find flaw when each song brings something new and different to the table. In these days of iPods and electronic everything, the 4 minutes and 30 seconds of silence in the middle of “Waiting For My Sun To Shine” proves to be a bit of a risk. But once the emotional lyrics are allowed to set in, the break in music only makes sense.
“My Heroine” is a sexy pop song with rock and roll guitar riffs and innuendo filled lyrics but it hardly sets the tone for the album. It more serves as another example of the musical range offered by the band. The first single from Pioneer “Some Days” is probably the song that is most similar to releases from their past as it dips only slightly into that infectious pop song category.
Some bands are permanently “scarred” by first impressions. The musical progression and growth being applauded in blogs and reviews all over the internet should hopefully encourage both skeptics and those who weren’t fans of The Maine’s original release to give them another listen. This band has achieved musically what only comes along very rarely in modern music. They avoided the “sophomore slump” and they strived for something bigger. And found it.
Pioneer by The Maine is available on iTunes for $7.99. You can download "Don't Give Up On (Us)" for free by clicking here.
Comments