ATP! Album Review: The Maine - The Good Love EP

This September, The Maine will be re-releasing their third studio album "Pioneer" overseas with six additional tracks, re-titling it "Pioneer and The Good Love" with colorfully distorted album artwork to go with it. These extra six tracks (collectively known as "The Good Love") are like the deleted scenes after the credits roll in a movie; they add more flavor to the original album, yet can stand on their own as an EP.

The Maine haven't made any drastic diversions from their notable sound on this record. "The Good Love" begins with 'I Want You', which has a Southern summer-jam groove to it. It's light, sweet and refreshing, with the “Sha la la”’s in the chorus creating a sickeningly irresistible singalong. Following on is 'I’m Leaving', an alt. rock tune with “Oo”’s and “Whoa”’s that outline each portion of the song, giving it that edgier feel before crescendoing into an upbeat pop tempo in the chorus. 'You’ll Never Know' is unlike any other track from the re-release as a whole. It has a slower pace, but with an added electronic element, creating the illusion that one has mysteriously shifted into a 90’s adult alternative station.

The second half of "The Good Love" picks up with 'Goodbye', a cute melody with a light piano accompaniment to Kennedy Brock and Jared Monaco’s guitar twanging as vocalist John O’Callaghan sweetly sings, “You gotta say bye bye bye/ Goodbye to yesterday.” 'Hello World' has the same fast-paced and syncopated rhythm section that contributes to The Maine’s overall sound. Here, O’Callaghan is given more room to show off his envious vocal skills as Brock, Monaco, and bassist Garrett Nickelsen experiment with similar bright and summery hooks that can be found in 'I Want You'.

"The Good Love" ends with the piano-based and sentimental semi-title track, 'Good Love'. It sways at lullaby pace for a few minutes until Patrick Kirch pounds on the drums to signal a shift in tempo. The track climaxes to a full band belting out all they’ve got with O’Callaghan basically screaming the title phrase, “Good love will find me,” until it fades out, closing the album.

The Maine is a band that does not get lost in the sea of repetitive musicians that exists today, and clearly make every detail count in the music they write. "The Good Love" is consistently appealing and fantastic throughout, and further proves that this band will be sticking around for a long time.

4/5

"The Good Love" EP will be released on September 11th.

Melissa Jones