Maritime was born from the ashes of two other bands. Both were very popular within their respective circles, but neither is import when describing this album. We, The Vehicles is the second stand-out album that Maritime has cranked out in the past two years, so I figure that Davey vonBohlen, Dan Didier, and Eric Axelson deserve to be judged on who they are now, not who they were in 1992.
That said, if you like indie rock and melodic pop music that sounds happy but is actually filled with deeply emotional songs about relationships n’ shit, then you’ll likely want to start writing “[your name here] + Maritime, 4 ever” on all your notebooks because this band is about to be your new summertime crush.
Pretty much every song on this record is perfect, except “Twins,” whose chorus is sort of silly and annoying and has you hating the word “twins” by the end of it. But despite the 45 seconds or so of “OKness,” We, The Vehicles will have imaginary little hearts floating around your head in no time.
From start to finish, each song on the album combines unbelievably catchy melodies, super tight musicianship, especially fantastic lead guitar work, and insanely dynamic and thoughtful lyrics. “Parade Of Punk Rock T-Shirts,” “Calm,” “No One Will Remember,” “Young Alumni,” etc. etc. etc., all of these songs are worth dissecting to discuss the deeper meaning of Davey’s lyrical schemes, or to compare each musical breakdown with a previous band who did something similar, but I’m not going to. If you like Nada Surf, The Shins, Rogue Wave, and/or any other band that relies on great songs rather than “image” to achieve success, then you will want to buy this record. You’ll be glad you did.
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