Check out (m)orning. It's by far the best thing they've done imo. I love The Everglow though and don't really care for Singularity or Destination: Beautiful.
Everyone should listen to Schematic if you haven't yet. It's Dave's side project from a couple years back.
I had trouble really getting into that album. It's enjoyable I suppose, but not even close to anything Mae did/has done
Why? There are some outstanding tracks on it. "What it Means" and "You are my Southern Girl" are beautiful. But then again, I love "I Don't Think it is" too. So I guess we.... are on two..... different wavelengths.
wait....so Mae made music after The Everglow? I guess my subconscious just walled that up and threw it away to save me from those scars. Yeah D:B and The Everglow are amazing. Everything else, nah.
Honestly I like everything post-everglow a lot, with the exception of the (e)vening EP. I can totally understand why fans of the band's first two albums would be less inclined to like singularity, but it's been my favorite of theirs since it was released.
The melodies are not atrocious. That's a goofy thing to say. In fact, the album is more melodically profound than much of Dave's other work. What a weird thing to post.
hide & seek is a really really good song, on par with (m)orning stuff. i am the car is great as well. it's not a strong album overall, but it's decent and calling it melodically atrocious seems like intentional hyperbole to me. idk. (e)vening is great. their best release imo. i like that and (m)orning more than everglow actually. singularity is alright, but it's the kind of album any band could make. it's not innovative or interesting or particularly affecting. everglow perfected the piano pop rock sound, the EPs intertwined melody, mood/atmosphere, and storytelling in a way that no other band in the ~scene~ has done since. singularity is just bland.
I'm just saying what I thought of the album. What would be the point in hyperbole? I don't like Singularity or Destination Beautiful or (a)fternoon either but I wouldn't say any of them are anywhere near as bad as the Schematic album. It was legitimately one of the least enjoyable listens of an album I've ever had. Same with the new Say Anything, that's why I compared them. (m)orning is legit one of my favourite pieces of music ever though.
I didn't jive with the Schematic album either, but I need to go back to it because it kind of flew under the radar for me. Also, even though I think "Singularity" is the weakest Mae album, it's still solid stuff. I think it gets a lot of unneeded flack. Even the band is really proud of that record and doesn't consider it a misstep. I agree with whoever said "Just Let Go" is great. One of the best Mae songs in my eyes. edit: Fyi, actually just went to double-check my facts about the band being proud of "Singularity" and couldn't find the interview with Dave Elkins that I remembered where he praised the album. Actually found an interview where he said the opposite. So never mind. :)
See, I think evening and morning have aged the worst, for me! I didn't care for evening from the start, but I LOVED morning... now, other than the house that fire built & boomerang, I don't listen to it anymore... oh and that nice little instrumental that opens up and closes the album... ok so maybe I do still like it, haha.
man, (m)orning's just gotten better for me and as much as I love those two tracks I think they're the worst on it. "The Fisherman Song" is easily the best song they ever wrote imo. "The Melody, The Memory" would probably be my number 2.