Mike Mains and the who?? That was my reaction when my brother threw me their album. I admit I wasn't thrilled to listen to "another Christian band" as I put it. After a listen I had changed my opinion of them. After a few more listens, I found Mr. Mike carries quite a few punches with his branches. This album has a lot to offer with 46 minutes of solid tracks. Not a lot of flab tracks and stuffing here folks. Let me go out and say that this band doesn't take themselves too seriously as a Christian band. Not a bad thing in Mike's case. If your looking for an uplifting experience, go download Carmen.
The main track here is "stereo". Starts strong with a oh-oh war-chant that will not disappoint when your driving in your car alone looking for a song to croon along to. His intentions here are pretty clear as he sings to his girl (presumably) that all he wants is to be is 'in your stereo / that kissed your ears in your sleep' and then asks her to take the proverbial leap off the edge with him to find happiness together. Unfortunately that all comes crashing down with 'lady love' that has him taking back every 'I love you' against a soft Coldplay-ish sway. His voice at times seems to emulate Brandon Flowers which seems aggravating to say the least considering his talent for singing. You can tell influences from certain bands here with ease like mewithoutYou and Manchester Orchestra specially on 'rush' and 'love'. Although thats not necessarily a bad thing! In fact, the time when the band shines the most is when they have their 'swagger' going in songs like 'stereo' and 'free'.
Mike covers a lot of themes here, mostly noble and every-man themes like relationships, religion, freedom and having fun. Seeing as they are Christian, God inevitably comes up a lot. Thankfully, its not an annoying thing when they do, and it always feels like a welcome addition to the song rather than an 'oh yeah we like jesus, uh... throw some of that stuff in there'. Instead, right at the start he offers serious curves in the 'God narrative' like 'don't you know your body is a temple?/so how bout you make a little room for me' and 'I didn't die for you to live like this/I died for you to love'
This is the sort of album that you could about throw on whenever you feel like. Its got anthems, its got retrospective, its got hooks, its got it all. A few more years of experience and I think Mike will age nicely and improve their already amazing sound.
7.8/10
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