Thrumming bass and buzz-saw guitars usher in the sharp musings of the Portland band’s newest single, a tonal tour of modern living’s complicated dynamics.
“Have you read the phone? There’s people dying in another country, and it’s our fault,” is a line that plainly puts something very complex into very edible clarity. It finds its way into the beginning verses of “Sunday” between sleepy asides to a partner in the same, frighteningly mundane way that one does digest such things these days- the gravity of horror blipped casually into morning conversation between small talk and disagreement. MAITA’s newest single is bred from the frustration inherent in a debate lead singer Maita-Keppler had with her partner about dreams.
The fuzzy nature of the subject and the breakdown in communication so common in fevered disagreement is sonically splayed out within the structuring and presentation of the music. The guitars and bass knit together in an angry buzz that layers into the rhythm section’s blend of boom-bap introduction and rollicking pace following. The tonal shift of the quieter sections in which the title is uttered feel as if a veil is lifted. Clarity, perhaps, that under all the confusion about how to navigate the world today is a great deal of tenderness, pain, and longing that ever congeal under the surface. “Help me help you,” begs Maita-Keppler over and over again, and if anything, “You Sure Can Kill a Sunday, Part I” succeeds in those wishes for this reviewer. The emotional catharsis of the new single is a proper harbinger for MAITA’s upcoming album I Just Want To Be Wild For You, coming February 18 on Kill Rock Stars. Until then, you can listen to this newest single on repeat, as it’s out now and streaming everywhere. Enjoy.~
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P80zxI5x6OQ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2krOdd00yaLEMCjK3aPrEM
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/you-sure-can-kill-a-sunday-part-i/1588811955?i=1588811956
Review by Bobby Guard
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