Release Date: February 12th, 2013
In 2009, lo-fi Indie rock group Mazes formed among Jack Cooper, Conan Roberts, and Neil Robinson. The band formed in Manchester, UK as part of a music subculture drawing on sounds heard most prominently in 90’s American indie music. The scene was short lived however, as it had virtually no interest in success over camaraderie. Mazes are among a few notable bands that survived the subculture’s end. Their newest release, Ores and Minerals, is a follow up to their debut album, A Thousand Heys, released 2011 on Fat Cat. The music is simple, direct, but has a garage rock charm that keeps it engaging from start to finish.
The opener, “Bodies,” jumps into the fray with smooth guitar melodies, a driving rock beat, and a thrumming bass line. Jack Cooper’s vocals are whiny but defiant, “Bodies colliding/wrapping around us/and the night will go out.” The last half is a tasteful guitar solo, followed by a warm noise collage, touches of synth coloring the atmosphere.
Right off the bat, I’d call this music refreshing. Many bands today want to be larger than life, are pushing the envelope in terms of sound experimentation and song structure, and this can be great and wonderful thing, but when compared to “Bodies,” a song without over-the-top-in-your-face pretention, Mazes come off as more sincere; three guys with instruments, writing simple, decent songs and recording them live.
Track three, “Significant Bullet,” manages to stand on its own even if only a minute in length. Here we see the band divert from crunchy guitars, writing hazy synth melodies over a looped beat. Once again, they could have overdone it, could’ve overused technology to create something bigger, cleaner, and more impressive, but the music remains exposed, vulnerable, and fuzzy around the edges.
“Ores and Minerals” is equally as enjoyable but for different reasons. This track has a killer guitar line reminiscent of the Violent Femmes. Harmonized vocals hover above, full and joyous in that imperfect, basement-rock fashion. There are two guitar solos, and although less than impressive, I was happy to know there’s a band still using them on a regular basis.
We approach the middle of the album, the most difficult section to pull off successfully. It tests listener’s commitment to the music and can make or break the work as a whole. Did Mazes pull it off? Yes and no. There are tracks like “Sucker Pucnhed” and “Delancey Essex” that are great in their own right, but fail to fall into context with the rest of the album. They don’t stick out or bring about a new sound, and thus are forgettable.
Then there’s track seven, “Bite,” which revives the album with its palm muted guitars, airy vocals, subtle synth drones, and tasteful lack of percussion. It has a mounting tension behind it that makes you want to re-listen and discover what it’s hiding. This is a track with a spine, and it seems to be stating, “Stick around, there’s more.”
We reach the back half of the album and come across track ten, “Skulking.” I have mixed feelings on this track. On one hand, it has a raw, punk energy heard in the messy guitars that strain to mirror the vocal melody. On the other hand, the song’s structure comes off as cliché. Compile fast verses, an abrupt chorus, and a few guitar solos and you’ve got a Mazes song. In the end, this one slips through the cracks, but only when placed into context with the rest of the album.
The closer, “Slice,” is another track without any percussion. Tempo is marked by a steady synth metronome. The guitars are more subdued, playing quiet reflective melodies. The lyrics are honest in their disappointment and frustration, “The USA isn’t great/it’s just okay/we can go.” There’s a bratty charm to this track that’s usually hidden in the earlier, harder songs, and I thought it to be a moving closer.
“Ores and Minerals,” by Mazes, is an album I didn’t realize I needed to hear until after listening. It’s got an indie/punk charm that brings us back to the days of 90’s alternative with Pavement, Violent Femmes, and Blind Melon. We’re thrown back into a world where young people wrote songs and played instruments and recorded on what could be found laying around. It’s a simple album, it’s an easy listener, but it’s a genuine piece of work. It has heart and imperfection behind it, when so much music today becomes destroyed by its own technology and image. This album will not stand the test of time. It will be swept under the rug eventually, but it is a quiet reminder that music doesn’t need to be bigger to be more enjoyable. Less is more in “Ores and Minerals,” and I think it deserves a good listen.
Mazes – Ores and Minerals tracklist:
- “Bodies”
- “Dan Higgs Particle”
- “Significant Bullet”
- “Ores & Minerals”
- “Sucker Punched”
- “Delancey Essex”
- “Bite”
- “Jaki”
- “Leominster”
- “Skulking”
- “Slice”
