MAINE RIVER EP REVIEW

Maine River

Regular readers of these pages will know a large proportion of the good rockers of Kent like their music impassioned and…chuggy.

What? It’s a word.

Promise Me Tomorrow, Tin Soldiers and Left of the Right Side are just three examples. There are many, many more besides. But then you knew that already.

Now add to that list Maine River, four lads from Chatham who named themselves after an American tributary rather than their local Medway. They describe themselves as an ‘atmospheric, alternative rock band’ and there’s little to argue with there.

The band’s debut EP is a powerhouse of atmospherics and earnest tunesmithery. As you might expect from Sturm und Drang laden titles like ‘Weight of the World’, ‘Somewhere Between the Tide and I’ and ‘The Final Goodbye’, Maine River’s songs are filled with gloomy introspection and brooding.

Lots of brooding.

‘Secrets’ is a case in point: a solemn, intense pleading with someone to reconsider some all important decision: ‘it doesn’t have to be all or nothing/you’ve made your bed you don’t have to leave’.

Meanwhile ‘The Final Goodbye’ is filled with bittersweet wishes of ‘all I pray is that you find your way back home’.

It’s a fairly standard wish in songs of this genre: we can’t be happy together, so I wish you well (even if it is tearing me to pieces). Maine River have captured the nature of this style of music well, even if there’s nothing particularly new to add.

There’s much to like in this debut. ‘Weight of the World’ opens with a noisy, thrashy statement of intent, edging into Rage Against the Machine territory before pulling back into something more emo than politico-hip-hop metal.

Elsewhere ‘Between the Tide and I’ (surely that should be ‘Between the Tide and Me’? See me after class, Maine River!) opens with a gorgeous, finely plucked guitar introduction before launching into the thick, stormy sound they(and we) are more accustomed to.

It’s a thick, intense and impressive start from Maine River here. Their musical talent shows they can navigate their way round this well-worn genre of music with ease. It’s going to be fascinating to see what happens next.

Find out more about Maine River on their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/MaineRiver?sk=info