Mae I Tell You About Some Great Music?

Welcome to a review of The Everglow by Mae. Mae is an inde-
pendent (though soon to be signed to a major label) rock band whose name stands for "Multisensory Aesthetic Experience." Lead singer Dave Elkins has a lovely voice; it has an almost conversational quality about it, and it is very pleasant to listen to. The music on this album generally uses pretty basic rock structure, but they sound very good, and they make excellent use of the piano. The lyrics on the album are always very good, sometimes excellent. The Everglow is bookended by an outdated but clever "Prologue" and an "Epilogue," which contribute nicely to the feeling that this is an entire listening experience. The first song, "We're So Far Away," is definitely the best track on the album and is the best song I've heard this year. It showcases a beautiful blend of vocals, piano, and strings. This track has a great transition to "Someone Else's Arms," which is the next best song on the album with great rock guitar and soaring vocals. "Suspension," the album's first single, is very catchy, probably because it has more pop influence than other tracks. The next four songs (from "This is the Countdown" to "Breakdown") start off nicely, but they each get a little bogged down and a little boring after a minute or two. "Painless" is the best of the four with some great piano moments. The album picks back up with the pretty, ambiguous "Mistakes We Knew We Were Making" and then continues with four songs that are lyrically, vocally and musically excellent. The album ends with "The Sun and the Moon," which is almost as beautiful as "We're So Far Away," but runs about two minutes too long. You can listen to quite a few of Mae's songs on purevolume or on their MySpace page, or you can buy the whole album on iTunes. Very highly recommended overall. Highlight tracks: "We're So Far Away", "Someone Else's Arms", "Cover Me", "Anything"