Maritime - We, The Vehicles

Glass Floor wasn’t the event that people had hoped for when ex-The Promise Ring members Davey von Bohlen and Dan Didier enlisted Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson for this Maritime endeavor. The collaboration of a few of indie rock’s notables would seemingly result in a product greater than its respective parts, but the band’s debut was seething with mediocrity and stagnancy. Though it housed a scant number of gems, an abundance of that album's material was underwhelming, subsequently excelling in lackluster, contrived indie pop. This time around, they've done much to escape the past, and the results are rather glowing. Two years and a label-jump later, Maritime still isn’t on the verge of making waves—but We, The Vehicles does do a lot to refute the skepticism garnered by the previous album. Davey Von Bohlen’s warm, near-lisp vocals haven’t escaped his throat’s grasp and are central to the melody-focused record. The straightforwardness of Glass Floor is still present, which brings things to a dull point at times, as Maritime builds on these foundations to tries to create something more flourishing and vibrant, if not stylistically innovative. If you’ve been keeping up with Maritime, you’re more than likely familiar with a handful of the tracks on We, The Vehicles. If memory serves correctly, “Calm” and “German Engineering” were leaked prematurely; “Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts” floated around cyberspace legally as the record’s featured track for a while. “Calm,” the record’s first track, really isn’t a nascent opener—the delicate vocals tend to get lost in the sea of splashing cymbals, and the structure doesn’t really give way to any rollicking splendor. On a slightly more positive note, “Tearing Up the Oxygen” and “People, The Vehicles” are more engaging affairs. By the fourth track, the record hits its best stride. “Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts” serves as one of the better songs in Maritime catalog—or at least its catchiest. Plus, it's one of my favorite songs of the year. Stop/start ska chords, plus a memorable bass line aid von Bohlen’s carefree vocals—he seems incessantly determined to never let his voice override any cheery sentiment, despite what he’s saying. And to be honest, I don't know what exactly the song is about, and I doubt you will either until it's played in your head a thousand times and you decide to dig in a little deeper. “German Engineering” bounces along before another peaceful, multi-tracked vocal harmonized chorus; “Young Alumni” and “Don’t Say You Don’t” are key tracks and are two of the few songs on the record showing Maritime how to get out of the middle of the road. Maritime know how to write some stellar songs, and the improvements made since last time aren't to go without a pat on the back. What they're still lacking, though, is defining character; The Promise Ring and Dismemberment Plan were chock-full of it, but Maritime hasn't quite yet fully grasped its own identity and are still apt to write some faceless songs. Still, they're getting better, and We, The Vehicles is worth picking up, if not simply for the excellent half of the record, which doesn't let its lesser parts bring it down much. I can almost guarantee that the phrase "third time's the charm" nails the band. [www.maritimesongs.com]