“Let It Die” by Mae, Sunday March 14, 2021

 

Some people listen to music casually. It’s on in the car, you dance to it at the club, you sing it at church. Maybe there was a song you love from high school. Then there’s those for whom music is a Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience. If words on a page can evoke every sense, can’t music do the same? Throughout history people have reported seeing colors when they listen to music. In 2003, a group of musicians from Norfolk, Virginia debuted on Tooth & Nail Records with Destination:Beautiful. After their second release, the band’s success scored them a deal Capitol Records, but the band landed in the purgatory of distancing themselves from Christian radio but being too Christian and too indie to be marketed to the pop or rock markets. After the release of the independent eps (m)orning, (a)fternoon, and (e)vening, the band took a break and came back to Tooth & Nail Records releasing their second* Self-titled record.

IT'S A LOSING GAME. Unfortunately, Mae’s passion doesn’t always translate into great albums, according to critics, and as a listener-turned critic, something about the band prevents me from experiencing the full aesthetic. Sometimes it’s clunky lyrics like this song. Other times the song isn’t quite catchy enough. And then there is the bands accessibility. Is it pop? Is it rock? Is it emo? The band members aren't particularly cool dudes or charismatic, flamboyant, or visibly crazy artist types. Rather than being pulled in by the deep concept, I believe this band had I find myself just listening to the singles. Still, the band has a cult following, and as a cult follower of other bands I understand that outsiders of the cult may never be convinced.

WITH BRAND NEW EYES. If you love something let it go. Let it die, and it will resurrect. A seed has to die to grow a tree. Hold on loosely because if you cling too tightly, you might lose control. This song talks about forgiveness, but in an interesting way. Rather than working so hard to repair it, you let it die and then rebuild it. I have to wonder if this is a metaphor for the band's own career. Most of the members of Mae split to work in music in other capacities, but the cult following of Mae drew three members, including lead singer Dave Elkins, back to restart the band in 2018. It's my hope that this band will do well--better than their modest success. I hope that they write an album that makes their music click for me. I truly want to be blown away by a multi-sensory aesthetic experience, and I believe this band is talented enough to deliver it. But if our particular aesthetics never align, I can never accuse this band of not being true to themselves, which in and of itself is what music should be all about.

*Although the band has never released an album called Mae, they released (m)(a)(e), a compilation of (m)orning, (a)fternoon, and (e)vening and Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, which is what the letters M.A.E. stand for, much like P.O.D. released the album Payable on Death.