If you’ve got a finger on the pulse for scenes like math rock, post-rock, and instrumental music, you’re probably hearing everyone talk about Maebe‘s new album and how much they love it. This, in itself, is not a surprise if you’ve actually heard the record.
Brain Paint is positively oozing with great ideas and even better execution, making it not just a bold step forward for the band, but a genuine gift to anyone willing to sit with it. We even compared it to And So I Watch You From Afar‘s Endless Shimmering, which still stands as hallowed ground few tread with honor, but Maebe seemingly manage this with ease on their third record.
We’re not saying that there aren’t other great bands with gargantuan riffs and bombastic structure, there are of course dozens, maybe even hundreds. What makes Brain Paint special is the way it balances its ambition and scale with, of all things, heart. You thought we were going to say brain, didn’t you?
Funnily enough, like ASIWYFA’s Endless Shimmering, a considerable portion of the writing and process behind Brain Paint revolved around family and raising children. As discussed in our recent interview, bandleader Michael Astley Brown’s daughter was born just after the release of their last record, and mix engineer extraordinaire Tom Peters of Alpha Male Tea Party was about to have his own by the time Brain Paint was finished being recorded. Though we didn’t harp on it specifically, we can’t help but wonder if these familial feelings lent the record extra-special sauce.
What’s great is that even if you don’t pick up on any of that, there’s still quite a lot to take in: the juicy leads from the title track. The ever-resolving beat of “Do Not Take Risks.” Threats of shoegaze and ballads on “Ephemeral” and “Young Lungs.” The immediate stank-face you get from “God Wit.”
One last thing: math rock, perhaps even more than post-rock, is seen from the outside as sort of a guitarist’s genre. It’s not an end-all-be-all argument, but it does hold a lot of water if you zoom out a bit. Telecaster this, headless guitar that, pedals… you know the deal, and you probably know it better than average thanks to math rock. Being that Michael Astley Brown’s day job is Digital Editor-In-Chief for Guitar World, you just might have an inkling that Brain Pain was made with guitarists in mind, and guitarists, we assure you, your ears will be pleased. But you don’t need a fretboard or even half a brain to appreciate the record for its meaningful, mystical music. You just need a heart.
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