MAYBESHEWILL

I love maybeshewill, their punch, their intensity that puts themselves on the edge between post rock and post metal, and that can be heard here with "This Time Last Year" whose start is very bombastic with great guitars bass and drums, but its charm lies in how one can hear a contrast in the same track, because later the song calms down and piano delight us with a beautiful moment. And as you can imagine, the intensity returns later and they add spoken words as background, creating that inherent emotional sound. "Last Time This Year" has the same direction, and I am not saying the sound is the same, no, one can listen to two different tracks, but the positive feeling is the same. I actually like this band a lot, so I never feel bored with their music. Here is a nice proof of it.

And the long track is provided by Her Name is Calla, whose music is much softer and delicate, but also beautiful in some moments. The track is "Condor & River"whose length is over 17 minutes. Here we can appreciate the band's skills as composers and performers, the song brings a lot of changes in time and mood, so the first minutes are relaxed and slow, but the intensity increases little by little until it reaches a climax and the musicians let their feelings explode and eat the world. I like this song a lot because it captures the essence of the band, but also the essence of the post rock as a genre, so it is easy to feel interested and excited about it.

It is a nice split that I would recommend you to listen and enjoy. My final grade will be three stars.

Enjoy it!

"Ixnay on the Autoplay" A moving, slightly hypnotic introduction, this sounds like it could be the opening theme music for a medical drama like House.

"Seraphim & Cherubim" After the introduction builds, the band takes on a grungier, more traditional rock sound, letting up in places to permit some lovely strings and piano to shine through.

"The Paris Hilton Sex Tape" Unless the title is a not-too-subtle reference to "banging," which this piece exhibits plenty of, it's an odd title. However, there is a pleasant interaction of instruments here, especially the lead guitar and piano.

"I'm in Awe, Amadeus!" This lively opus is much like video game music (think Mega Man), which appeals to me. It's upbeat, but whimsical in the background.

"We Called for an Ambulance but a Fire Engine Came" This interestingly titled piece is a rambunctious affair, with crunchy guitar over weak-bodied drumming. It relents halfway through, offering the opposite- gorgeous strings and piano.

"Heartflusters" The first of two songs on the album has ill-fitting vocals and rather weak harmonies. The female vocal is amazing, and I wish the band would have put her out front for this one. It crackles and fizzles toward the end with electronic effects.

"C.N.T.R.C.K.T." Here the band returns to punchy grunge rock, once again tapering off to introduce quieter passages.

"He Films the Clouds, Part Two" Soft piano and electric guitar open the album's lengthiest piece. The electronic drums double the perceived tempo, again creating a primetime television drama's opening credits. Pure female vocals sing whole notes before a chorus joins in. It is quite a beautiful track overall.

"Not for Want of Trying" Enough with beauty, the band seems to say, as this hefty and gravelly track singes away in progressive metal fashion. The angry speech is from the 1976 film Network.

"Takotsubo" This final piece concludes the album with a graceful, yet repetitive electric piano and light electronic percussion.

Maybeshewill is a UK act that made some ripples in the post rock act with two acclaimed albums. The third album in this band's career is the characteristically verbose title 'I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone', and continues the band's melodic and cinematic style of instrumental rock. Much in the same sense that genre kings Explosions In The Sky do it, Maybeshewill's sound revolves not around inspiring their audience with complexity, innovation or even technical skill, but rather to flood the listener with emotion. Being that the band manages to get this across merely with their instruments, this is quite impressive, and the band's third album may be their best yet.

The music that Maybeshewill creates with 'I Was Here For A Moment' is not something that sounds anything new to post-rock, or even my limited personal experience with the style. A quick comparison I would make would be to one of my favourites of the style- God Is An Astronaut- in the sense that they keep their songwriting intact while managing to keep all of the dynamic ebbs and flows that the longer form acts do. The comparison is reinforced by the fact that Maybeshewill uses electronics to bolster the atmosphere. There is even some classically inspired violin work that ties the band in with their British compatriots Loss Of A Child. Okay, enough with the comparisons. The bottom line is that there is a lot of depth to the sound of this band, although they are not so far flung from the sounds of other bands in the style. All the same, the powerful emotions get through.

Although the songs on 'I Was Here For A Moment' tend to average out at around four minutes in length, that does not stop Maybeshewill from getting the sense of 'epic' across. The music's greatest strength is its arrangement of sound; you will likely not find a moment here that feels undercooked and lacking depth in sound. The writing that can sometimes feel like it takes a little longer than it could have to get where its going, but the payoffs are always majestic. 'Words For Arabella' is a perfect indicator of this; running slowly for the first minute or two, then emerging with one of the most beautiful melodies that I have heard in a while. There has even been efforts taken by the band to have the songs run smoothly together- something that is often very underrated by artists- although these transitions only compliment the music around half of the times.

I do not necessarily consider myself a fan of post-rock anymore, having frankly found alot of it to sound too much alike Mogwai, Godspeed, Explosions In The Sky, and a couple of the other big acts. Maybeshewill makes an encourage remark with this album though. While it does not stand out in terms of originality, what Maybeshewill have done with post rock here is really excellent, and as an album that only grows with the emotional commitment the listener puts into it, I can certainly say I am impressed.

All through the album, brilliant soundscapes grace your ears along with some emotional playing from the band and man are they intense when they play. In fact, this is likely where they get most of their unique sound, from all the emotion they put into the music.

Also note the great production that this album has, an important part of post-rock. The way the producer (whoever that may be) makes the sounds all blend together to create a great listening experience is just a great part of the music.

The cover art is a good explanation of the album, original and extremely emotional without ever taking itself to seriously.

A good album, looking forward to more listens.

"Seraphim & Cherubim" is quite interesting song with contrasts between light melodic and heavy energetic (metal influenced) parts. "Heartflusters" are totally different electronic song with non-nonsense vocals. With some echoes of "Nordic air" in sound, song could be real strong one, but some pop elements destroying it a bit.

Remix of "The Paris Hilton Sex Tape" is combination of electronic effects and guitar- based sound, sounds fresh enough to be listened.

In all, not a bad advert release before "Not For Want Of Trying" album came in sales. After the release of the album, has not too big sense, however.

The music is average usual instrumental post-rock, but more of US standard. Twin guitars, bass and drums are all producing enough energy and sound, adding some heavy metal influenced sounds to their mid tempo simple, nostalgic, in some moments even aerial melodies. You can find almost all post-rock attributes there in this two songs.

Main problem is possibly you can't find there one of most important ingredient - originality. Small work for genre's maniacs.

Don't know about PA, but I've notcied that hype around MAYBESHEWILL on the internets recently. After few weeks of listening to this poor 65DOS clone (pardon me for being rude, but this is what I hear) with some Nu-Metal thrown here and there I was wondering why they are so hyped, really. When I listen to MAYBESHEWILL I feel like they're buying me with all these good old chord harmonies, heavy riffs, quirky tempos, melodic piano and dreamy samples. It's like eating fastfood - it is tasty but on the back of your find you realize how harmful they are to your health. Not recommended, though many Progheads may happen to like it.