Maines – Spring CD EP

It’s been a while since we covered a post-punk group on our pages, but on the other hand, Maines are not just another regular post-punk band that exploits melancholic aesthetics, repetitiously explored by the countless groups before. Rather than that, Maines explore several genres to illustrate the quite characteristic sonic imagery, more complex than one seen in regular post-punk bands. These experimentations with genres are providing more space for various maneuvers, acrobatics, and other sonic delicacies. However, more ingredients are also leaving more room for mistakes, but Maines are handling their music with a lot of care. Since its inception, the group released a couple of extended plays, such as Frequencies and Spring. Today, I would like to talk a bit more about Spring EP, their latest material entirely released in a DIY manner by the group in 2020.

Spring EP carries six detailed compositions, heavily inspired by some melancholic post-punk aesthetics. Perhaps Maines are devotedly following these post-punk aesthetics, but their music showcases several complementary genres along the way, such as noise rock, grunge, post-hardcore, post-rock, punk rock, shoegaze, and indie. These ingredients are thoroughly applied depending on the current direction and mood of the group, but the entire material resonates in harmony. You’ll stumble upon some impressive noise rock maneuvers, technically demanding post-hardcore guitar shreds, fuzzy grunge riffs, punk rock dynamics, and calmy indie moments. Nevertheless, their music still bursts with vividly hearable post-punk melancholia, mainly because of the echoic arpeggios and themes showcased on guitars. Maines continuously balance between the heaviness of noise rock and darkness of post-punk, but these two elements are the perfect combination that serves the purpose of the band. The remaining of the beforementioned ingredients are constantly levitating in between, so each genre has its purpose.

Spring EP delivers the best elements of underground music, thoroughly combined into polyphonic harmony. However, never let those melancholic overtures fool you because Maines are transforming into a raging beast in a matter of seconds. Spring EP carries six well-combined numbers that will suit anyone interested in a contemporary underground music scene. This particular EP comes on a compact disc housed in a classic pro-printed sleeve. Spring EP is available directly from a band, so head over to their Bandcamp page and purchase this raging beast.