Album Review: The Maine - 'American Candy'

7 April 2015 | 5:08 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

You'll listen to 'American Candy' so much that it'll give you a musical cavity...in the best way possible.

More The Maine More The Maine

The development of The Maine’s career is a lot like your love-hate relationship with mayonnaise. As a kid, it was fucking awesome. Mayonnaise was the shit! That stuff went on everything. Potatoes, sandwiches, meats, vegetables; fuck, that shit probably just went straight in your mouth at times. But then as you grew old, it started to revolt you. It started making you feel sick, gross, fat and ashamed. No longer was mayonnaise a delicious filling, it was but a long lost memory of something brilliant and a broken promise. Then when you got older still, you returned to the humble white goo. It became a part of your life and your cholesterol once more and it never felt so good! In case you didn’t get that oddly convoluted metaphor, The Maine were awesome, then they released some shit records and now they are awesome again.

American Candy’ is an epic ten song listen. The opener of ‘Miles Away’ announces this band’s return to being awesome with its ever-so-slight build up throughout and sudden end that leaves you wanting more and more. Thankfully for you, the rest of the album delivers superbly.

My Hair’ and ‘Same Suit, Different Tie’ both have a laid back, summer vibe to them that is reminiscent of Transit’sListen and Forgive’. The songs feel both big and soft at the same time, leaving room to breathe while you nod your head back and forth. Thanks to bass player Garrett Nickelsen, you’ll be doing that more than is good for you on ‘American Candy’.

On tracks like ‘Diet Soda Society’ and ‘Am I Pretty?The Maine really come into their own however. There’s a sense of flow (yes, as in rapper flow) in the music and lyrics that makes everything such an easy and enjoyable listen without it getting overly digestible. There’s still that sense of pop-rock catchiness and melody within yet it doesn’t overshadow any of this band's other great aspects like groove, atmosphere and structure.

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The Maine know exactly what they want on ‘American Candy’ as made evident on the title track which is an absolute jam from start to finish. With a spine-chilling synth that opens the song and the biggest, catchiest and most powerful chorus on the record, there’s a level of simplicity and ease to it that makes you fall in love with it instantly.

But what makes ‘American Candy’ so brilliant is its closer. ‘Another Night on Mars’ is a fucking drinking song. Seriously, if there was ever pop-rock song to get drunk, link arms and sing to then it’s this one. Slow tempo, cheesy lyrics and a smile across your face, it will be a guilty pleasure without the guilt: because what’s guilty about loving something that was made with no intention but?

Made up of nothing but absolute bangers and jams, ‘American Candy’ is not only The Maine’s return from shitsville, it's their redemption. The record is somewhat of a throw up between indie-pop aesthetic and pop-rock sweetness. It’s not the album this bands deserves, it’s the album this band needs.

  1. Miles Away
  2. Same Suit, Different Tie
  3. My Hair
  4. English Girls
  5. 24 Floors
  6. Diet Soda Society
  7. Am I Pretty?
  8. (Un) Lost
  9. American Candy
  10. Another Night on Mars