Every now and then in life, an audophile like myself stumbles across an album that seems to be one of those essential "life" recordings. Not that it holds any historical or artistic significance in the grand scheme of music history, or that it will even be the kind of album that will blow most people away on first listen, but quite simply, it sums up what his feelings, hopes, and fears are at a given time in his life.

The Everglow, the latest album by the five-piece rock band Mae, is one of those albums. It took a few tries to really get into it, but now it's really sunk in as an album with a vague story to it that compels me to keep listening, trying to put the pieces together. The band's approach is similar to other introspective bands who can crank out a good, catchy upbeat tune without losing their sensitive-guy touch, like Jimmy Eat World, or The Juliana Theory (but less harsh). The best musical comparison would actually be Something Corporate, due to the strong presence of piano on several songs, though Mae doesn't seem to have the pop-punk influence that Something Corporate does. I'll resist playing the Coldplay card, since that's far too easy of a name to bring up whenever one hears a piano, but there are a few softer moments that fans of Coldplay or Keane would probably appreciate. For the most part, Mae plays solid, upbeat, melodic rock, with some interesting compositional twists now and then, and an arsenal of catchy choruses. It ain't gonna change the world, but it sure can brighten a road trip or a day at the office like none other.

The Everglow is actually presented, somewhat humorously, as a children's audio book, complete with a spoken intro encouraging listeners to follow along by looking at the drawings on each page, which are apparently supposed to relate to the individual songs. The story behind the album doesn't make itself obvious - there are hints of relationship troubles and reconciliation and the giddiness of being in love, and really, that's the story behind most every emo-influenced album. But the continuity that the music provides, flowing smoothly from one song to the next (if you don't count an oddly-placed opener), seems to indicate that there's a linear narrative going on here. "Mae" stands for "Multi-sensory Aesthetic Experience", and it's clear that the group wants the songs and the pictures to represent a journey of some sort as both are examined together. While it isn't something that I'd label as total artistic brilliance, I think it's kind of cute and it adds a layer of depth that most modern rock albums just don't have.

Did I mention that this album was catchy? Oh my gosh, I'm so addicted to this disc. On some rock albums, bands can get caught in a mid-tempo dirge that permeates most of the songs and causes them to bleed together even though they may in fact be very different from one another. The upbeat songs stand out on albums like that. On The Everglow, the reverse problem actually seems to happen at first - there are so many up-tempo songs (only 3 ballads out of 13 total songs) that it can be easy to confuse them all at first. While it's true that one or two songs aren't as distinctive musically, this isn't throwaway generic pop/rock music, either. The band utilizes a solid rhythm section and the liquid flow of the piano to pep up several tracks, and several of the guitar intros and riffs become memorable over time.

The musical outlook is sunnier than the lyrics may be at times, which can almost tempt the listener not to look deeper - but looking deeper is what really brings the rewards out of this album. It's worth sitting down with on a quiet afternoon, and then test-driving in the car and other environments, before one makes a final decision on it. I know that helped to unearth the goods for me, and now I just can't get enough of The Everglow.

Prologue
A pleasant piano melody accompanies a female voice that softly welcomes us into the album, explaining that we should look at the booklet of pictures in order to fully experience The Everglow. The usual "when you hear this sound, turn the page" instruction that you'd expect from a child's audiobook shows up here, but humorously, snippets of the song intros from throughout the album are heard fading in and out, which prompts a sort of aural déjà vu as one listens to the actual songs later on. (It's kind of the reverse of what Iona did at the end of Open Sky.) This might come off to some as cheesy, but on the other hand, it's an amusing way of making those who download and never actually buy albums feel like they're missing out on something.

We're So Far Away
Did you know what you were doing, did you know?
Did you know how you would move me?
Well, I don't really think so...
The album's first song is likely to throw a lot of people for a loop - for a tight modern rock band, you certainly wouldn't expect a mushy piano ballad to start things off, especially one that seems to float so freely, not moored to a specific rhythmic framework. There's a discernible verse and chorus to it, and sections where the rhythm congeals into 3/4 or 4/4, but a bunch of little flourishes delay and otherwise keep the song from maintaining a consistent tempo. While bewildering at first, I've come to be quite charmed with this song, as lead singer Dave Elkins croons sweetly about how someone changed his life without even realizing it. This person could be a lover, but then he later changes the "me" to "us", so someone else has apparently caused profound change to two people. It could have spiritual interpretations... or it could be the birth of a child. In any case, the band goes deliberately over-the-top with the dramatic flourishes, allowing the last note to resonate as the guitars and drums come crashing in, just for that one note, even though they haven't been heard in the rest of the song. An eruption of feedback then provides a strange segue to an exhilarating stretch of upbeat material.

Someone Else's Arms
You toss and turn, I lie awake
Who knows what I've been drinking
Another cheap, meaningless kiss to give...
Mae's true arrival is announced triumphantly here, with the pounding of drums and a chugging guitar riff creating a memorable fanfare for our protagonist as he sets out on his journey. The song might seem a little awkward and even sluggish at first, since it chugs along on muted guitars during the verses, but what really makes it work is the use of background vocals here and there, and an incredibly strong chorus that simply repeats, "I just wanna wake up!" Dave sounds rather bitter on this one, actually, which is surprising because the band doesn't have a sarcastic tone, for the most part. The words he sings sound like the words of a man trapped in a dying relationship, desperately wanting out. There's a sense that healing can't come until a painful breaking process has been dealt with. Lines like "All this blame hammers your way to hell" are actually some of the darkest that you'll find on an otherwise rather optimistic record, but then, I guess it makes sense to start with the problem and work towards a solution. The ending provides another drmaatic flourish, as the harsh, dense musical backdrop melts away into a few simple keyboard notes and Dave wails, "I just wanna way-ayke uh-hup... in someone else's... arms." Then the band gets revved up again and they take the song's riff back out for a victory lap. Sweet stuff!

Suspension
Lately I'm alright, and lately I'm not scared
I've figured out that what you do to me
Feels like I'm floating on air...
Some electronic skittering opens the next song, not even giving the previous one a chance to fully fade out (that happens quite a bit on this record). Once it gets going, it actually has a bit of an epic mid-tempo pace to it, kind of like Sleeping at Last's song "Currents". The mood here Is much cheerie, as this is the song of someone deciding to give love a chance, and all the guy wants is for the girl to make up her mind: "Say anything, but say what you mean, when you whisper you want this". Kind of a strange place to go from a bitter pre-breakup song, but maybe the couple has decided to give it another go, or maybe he's met someone new - who knows? I love how the tempo speeds up to double-time for the chorus, which includes the apt line "We are gaining speed, I can barely breathe." The album artwork, featuring our protagonist standing on an island, eyeing an unreachable castle in the distance, provides no obvious clues, but hey - fun song.

This Is the Countdown
You put your nets out
But still you chose to do without
The only way to catch the butterfly
Is never waiting for the wings...
Some more rhythmic trickery shows up here, on a song that has a much more well-defined backbeat, but that keeps slipping from 6/4 to 4/4 and back again, which is neat during the 6/4 sections because the drummer can basically beat out rhythms of two and the guitars and vocals will cycle around on their threes and meet up each time at six. That pattern makes the transition to a more straightforward chorus rather easy, which causes the entire song to flow quite well. Here, Dave seems to have gone back into bitter mode, just a little bit, but then, his observations seem to be honest: "Are you getting tired? I think we've gone and lost the fire. But I don't want to fight any more." It's as if the last few days, hours, or minutes of their relationship/marriage are rapidly ticking away, and they're just staring at each other in disbelief, wondering how they let it slip right through their fingers. And yet the ending never seems to actually come: "I've been waiting, but oh, tonight, this one last try goes on and on and on." It's hard to tell at this point if he actually wants out.

Painless
It was my personal symphony
Striking the chords for only me
There was a coursing all through my veins
Another chance to get away...
The first set of upbeat rock songs comes to a boil here with one of the most kick-a$$ rock songs of the year 2005 thus far. A time-delayed, U2-esque guitar intro from Zach Gering gets things going as Jacob Marshall taps the cymbals to keep time, and then the song just takes off in a sprint, with crashing drums and a rather complex and dense guitar lead that comes gushing through the dense percussion like whitewater rushing around big, jagged rocks. Then, to set up the verse, a beautifully flowing piano cadence breaks in - forget the slow, methodical Coldplay-ish stuff, this is how you really use piano in a rock song. Dave sings cryptic lyrics about a "personal symphony" of sorts, something that helps him escape from the pain of everyday life. When the chorus comes crashing in (and again, it's quite a catchy one) and the frustration comes pouring out, you can sense the desperation of this retreat into numbness: "I'll keep holding and I'll keep trying. I feel this fight, it's slowing dying now, but I feel painless". The booklet, in one of its more unsettling illustrations, depicts our would-be hero alone in a cabin with his hands covering his ears, looking unhappy, with several empty and broken bottles strewn around him. The music, melodic and hook-laden as it may be, crashes and throbs about like the hangover this guy's bound to have the next day... and then it falls away into the blissful sound of waves.

The Ocean
Oh, the night becomes the space that's somewhere in between
What i feel and what i'm told
Sitting on the shoreline trying to figure it out, figure it out
To find out the meaning and reach it somehow...
The tide brings in a suspiciously familiar piano melody... if you're having a stronger sense of déjà vu than most of these song intros will give you, there's a good reason for that. Go get Rebecca St. James' God album and listen to the song "Go & Sin No More"... yep, same piano intro. Well, almost. Same key, too. This can't be a coincidence, right? Whatever the case, this relatively easygoing song finds our protagonist alone on a dark night, wishing for the companionship of the girl he's left behind. The guys use harmony to great effect here, softly echoing one another and portraying a much more peaceful and serene mood, brought about by the girl coming to comfort our hurting hero: "You come over unannounced, silence broken by your voice in the dark". While the full band plays on this song, it's still the piano and vocals that dominate the mood, closing out the song with a marvelous vocal crescendo which brings a sense of peace after a rather distressed chapter in the couple's relationship. Soon enough, the rapidly approaching march of drums signals another smooth segue into the next song.

Breakdown
"It's fragile", she says to me
The hair in her eyes, she removes it smiling
There's a wound that I know this song could mend
A step in time for us will never end...
This song has a momentum that just doesn't seem to quit, in part because the drums seem to be the lead instrument. It wavers back and forth between being a cheery pop song about the magic of love rekindled, and a foreboding rock song warning us of danger ahead. Jaunty piano and some neat bass licks can be heard in the background as Dave describes this nervous reunion, explaining that "I'm waiting for the breakdown, is it ever going to come?" Toward the end, the sense of foreboding grows stronger as the drums roll along frantically, building up behind the layered vocals, swelling more and more until the song finally cuts off. Man, I love it when bands give their drummers a chance to show off!

Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
Driving in the rain to the hospital, quiet aches intense
What at once just seemed the impossible, now makes perfect sense
We held hands to face the uncomfortable, cold, and lonely room
Magazines and empty distractions barely got us through...
It's interesting to note that the lyrics for "Breakdown" share a page, and an illustration, with the lyrics for this song. That picture depicts the same boy from all of the other pictures, holding hands with a girl who we haven't actually seen before, standing in what appears to be a graveyard or a garden with books planted in the ground. Yeah, I don't get it either. Anyway, more rhythmic trickery is the rule of the day as Mae unveils a rather progressive verse with what sounds like a 9/4 rhythm with an odd bar of 2/4 jammed in the middle. Basically, that would be eleven counts for one line and then nine for the next, for total of 20 before the pattern repeats itself. It fits nicely with Dave's lullabye-esque melody, wistfully describing some naïve things that he once believed about love as the guitar gently plucks away behind him. The chorus (or pre-chorus, I guess, since the actual refrain is just wordless "Da-da-da"s accompanied by bells) jumps back into 4/4 and simply repeats the song's title, adding the line "Don't think about chance we're taking". The couple has clearly taken an unwise risk here, and it's resulted in some pretty serious consequences necessitating a trip to the hospital. This is actually where my "baby" theory, which I hinted at earlier when dissecting "We're So Far Away", comes into play - it's likely that premarital sex led to an unexpected pregnancy, and now the couple has to decide how to deal with it. The song ends with one simple repeated line, a confession that "The list goes on and on". Presumably that's the list of mistakes.

Cover Me
Say, you buy and sell and throw it all away
And hope it never gets to you too late
This plan is gonna blow...
Panic sets in on this racous number, opening innocently enough with its muted lyrics and guitars as Dave wryly asks, "Hey! The world is ending, don't you even know?" Well, at least that's how our lead character feels, now that he's kicking himself about whatever mistakes he's made. He's wondering how he could have gotten so far off-track, to the point where he'd throw away his convictions so easily, and his conclusion is "The music's much too loud to hear this alarm sound". Not sure what that means, but it's an appropriately noisy chorus, with the crashing drums and all. There's a neat little guitar solo, followed by a piano solo, in the middle of this song, which is the most intense piece on the back half of the album. I kind of see this one as the ending of a second chapter, where the couple has reconciled but now faces some pretty serious consequences.

The Everglow
Here's our chance to go for something
So this is where we win, and take the game, no blame There's a neon light inside that shines
And tearing down the walls in the way...
Surprisingly, the album's title track is one of the last songs that I really noticed, probably because it's one of the most straightforward tunes on the album. It has its merits - plenty of bright keyboard and some dazzling electric flourishes in the background if you listen carefully - but it's also one of the more enigmatic songs in terms of the overall context of the story, which messes me up because I figure that being the title track, this one should be the key to understanding the rest of 'em. There's a sense of a new beginning in this song, and certainly a lot of optimism as Dave cheerily sings, "Whoa, and our hearts are on the Everglow", but darned if I know what that even means. The night and stars and light are central to the lyrics here, and Dave asserts, "Every action begs a reaction. We'll figure it out and make this happen". Maybe this song is the band's way of illustrating a resolve to press on and make the most out of a dire situation, but whatever it is, it's kind of vague and I need to spend a little more time with it, I guess. (As a side note, I'm noticing that whenever "stars" show up in the lyrics, as they do several times on this album, the liner notes have a little graphic of twinkling stars instead of the actual word.)

Ready and Waiting to Fall
Write it in a letter, but the words don't come out right
Trying to explain how no one can do me like
You don't understand how helpless I can get since the day that we met
Oh, can you feel it yet?
Another song with a chugging guitar riff (lots of palm muting on this one) takes a decidedly optimistic turn, despite the seemingly pessimistic title. (I'm assuming the word "Fall" refers to falling in love here.) It's almost as if our protagonist has finally taken stock of the situation and realized that despite the pain it originated from, it's worth losing himself in the outcome, because good is going to come of it. Whether that's faithful or foolhardy is a matter of perspective, I guess, but then, lots of transitions in life can be at once beautiful and frightening. I wouldn't say that this song is one of the album's standout moments, but it's not a dull song, either - I like the scratchy, start-stop riff and the breezy chorus.

Anything
The pain it won't even cross my mind
There is wonder in everything
The rope gets loose, and the chains unbind
And i can do anything...
The sound of chirping crickets leads into another mid-tempo epic sort of song with a very "starry" guitar riff. It's hard to make rock songs that are at once full-bodied and beautiful, so I'm rather entranced by the way Mae has been able to capture a sense of wonder with this one. If not for the conflict and fear that's surfaced now and then earlier in the album, I think I'd have a really hard time swallowing the unapologetically positive lyrics on this one: "Every now and again sometimes, I get lost on the waves of a dream. The air gets clean and the seas get white and I can do anything." But when taken as a response to what's come before, it's easy to get caught up in the exhilarated feeling. It's not detached escapism - we've already tried that earlier in the album, and it left us in pain. It's more of a sense that, while there may still be troubles ahead, this one blissful day or moment has been awarded to us, and we have the right to say that it feels pretty darn good.

The Sun and the Moon
Painted skies
I've seen so many that cannot compare to your ocean eyes
The pictures you took that cover your room,
And it was just like the sun, but more like the moon...
While it is a bit cliched and hackneyed in its attempt to be an epic album closer, I'd say that the final song still has its merits. Unsurprisingly, it's another piano ballad, bringing the keyboards and vocals front and center. What's nice about it is that it really does have a lovely ambiance to it as the words are carefully interspersed with the sparse piano playing, and everything has a bit of a cavernous echo to it. The guys do a great job of harmonizing once again, on another wordless chorus of "oh"s and "ah"s. The song expresses appreciation to a person, likely the same person that "We're So Far Away" addressed - in my theory, the child who is now old enough to understand the story, and who is receiving this book from his parents as a gift. It's a song of dedication, basically stating that they're in this committed relationship forever. The point where I think the song fails is when the band tries to add one last bit of sweeping drama to it - the tempo is just too plodding and careful for it to really work when the guitars come in, churning over the same four chords again and again with little variation, stretching the song out to about seven minutes. But for the first three or four, it's a lovely little tune.

Epilogue
The album ends as it starts, with the same piano intro (in a higher key to match the ending of "The Sun and the Moon") playing to wind the album down, and the female narrator telling us she hopes we enjoyed the journey and bidding us goodnight. It doesn't really add much to the album other than a vague sense of completion - they probably could have done more with this, but I suppose it's a decent way to end.

Despite any shortcomings, I'd have to say that The Everglow is a satisfying experience that always leaves a smile on my face at the end. Even though there may be some small missteps when they take the gushy, sentimental approach, it's that same approach that works well for them when they exaggerate it in a more cartoonish matter, fitting in with the child's storybook theme. In other words, Mae is at their best doing melodrama, not mellow drama, and with the exception of the final song, they generally avoid that. Their aggressive moments are believable without losing the sensitive-guy feel or being overly harsh, and while some might find even the rockiest moments to be a little too "nice guy" for their tastes, this stuff is right up my alley personality-wise. I'm looking forward to checking out Mae's previous album, Destination: Beautiful, and to seeing what other stories they have to tell in the future.

ALBUM WORTH:
Prologue $.50
We're So Far Away $1.50
Someone Else's Arms $1.50
Suspension $1.50
This Is the Countdown $1.50
Painless $2
The Ocean $1.50
Breakdown $2
Mistakes We Knew We Were Making $1.50
Cover Me $2
The Everglow $1
Ready and Waiting to Fall $1
Anything $1.50
The Sun and the Moon $1
Epilogue $0
TOTAL: $20

Band Members:
Dave Elkins: Lead vocals, guitar
Zach Gering: Guitar
Mark Padgett: Badd
Jacob Marshall: Drums
Rob Sweitzer: Keyboards, vocals

Websites:
http://www.whatismae.com
http://www.theeverglow.com

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving