The Maine – Good Love EP
Review by Jessica Klinner
After much acclaimed success on their December 2011 release of Pioneer, The Maine just recently re-released the album with an additional six songs attached to it. The re-release known as Pioneer and the Good Love dropped earlier this week overseas. The Maine decided to only make it available in a physical copy to their overseas fans. Unfortunately, the extended edition CD was not available to US fans. Instead, The Maine released the additional 6 songs in an EP known as the Good Love EP.
The EP starts off with “I Want You,” a catchy up tempo song that is rock with a slight country twang. The combination of rhythmic and lead guitar parts at the opening of the song is enough to get you moving. Filled with sha la la’s and oo’s, the arrangement of this song is genius and catchy as hell!
The second track titled “I’m Leaving” is one of the softer songs on the EP. At the beginning of the song, vocalist John O’Callaghan’s voice is layered with oo’s leading up to the climactic chorus that hits hard with fast guitars and drums. “You’ll Never Know” was released a while before the EP was released. This song features some techniques that The Maine’s previous songs have never featured before. O’Callaghan’s deep vocals mixed with the electronic beat prove that The Maine can tackle just about any kind of sound and make it theirs. It may take a few listens to fall in love with this track, but trust me when I say that it WILL happen!
“Goodbye” starts with the building up of drums into a playful piano melody. O’Callaghan’s vocals kick in with a funky guitar rhythm being strummed out by guitarists Kennedy Brock and Jared Monaco. “Take Me Dancing” was already a well-known and loved song by the fans well before the EP was released. The Maine has been performing the song on recent tours. It starts out slow with just an acoustic guitar and O’Callaghan’s vocals singing “Give me thunder/Give me lightening/ And I will give you every part of me.” By the end of the song, the whole band has kicked in. The vocals stop halfway through the song leaving the whole band to end the song with a jam session and a few ad libs from O’Callaghan.
“Hello World” is one of the most fun songs on the EP. It starts as a countdown by drummer Pat Kirch and jumps right into a fast paced jam. The verse slows into a chorus of “And I said hello world/ Hello world/ Wherever you come from” and immediately jumps right back into the fast pace it started with. The last song and title track “Good Love” starts as a piano solo soon followed by soft drums and vocals from O’Callaghan. Instruments are slowly added throughout the song and by the end it is a full band effort. The song ends with O’Callaghan screaming out “Good love will find me” repeatedly until the vocals fade and the guitar plays us out ending the EP.
The Maine is a band not afraid of taking chances with their music. None of their songs sound the same. Each is unique and different which gives The Maine such a diverse and hard to put a finger on sound. It is very hard to categorize their music these days because it is so different not just from their previous releases, but also other bands they may be compared to. The “Good Love EP” will be just what fans need to hold them over until The Maine can start recording and release a new album. We are glad that these songs were able to see the light of day and can’t wait to hear more from this fantastic band that is continually evolving.
