Mare Island
Mare Island
Reviewed by: Ziggy Merritt
If you do a Google search of Mare Island, you’ll come across a peninsula in Vallejo, California with a rich history as a naval shipyard; the economic lifeblood of Vallejo up until the early ’90s. Using this peninsula as their namesake, the San Francisco natives, Josh Staples and Sean Leary share a similarly rich history as childhood friends who would eventually form their four-piece outfit, along with Derrick Chao and Evan Sama after a chance meeting in 2015. The self-titled EP from that collaboration processes the history of each member’s respective musical endeavours into maximalist expressions that lie somewhere between baroque pop and surf rock.
Staples’ vocals, a blend of late ’90s power pop and emo with the wistful tone of Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, provide direction for the layers each track is built upon. “Alight” is the EP’s most propulsive track despite its 6 minute length. Much of that comes down to the epic overtures that Leary and Chao instill throughout as their guitars give body to ambient textures. A similar orchestral heft is given form in each successive track thanks in part to the Magik*Magik Orchestra that provides an understated subtlety to the warmth of Staples’ pop sensibilities. “Vanish” and “Crushed” continue on to personify the emotive capacity of the band, awash as they are in a realm of nighttime nostalgia lit only subtle tweaks of distortion, surf jangle, and charismatic vocals. However, that same easygoing nostalgia works against some of the EPs unrealized strengths.
As sometimes happens with debuts, the Mare Island EP, is oftentimes frustratingly inoffensive. Everything within could easily be described as pleasant, even beautiful in stretches, but rarely does it take risks to give the EP an identity under the wide umbrella of indie rock. I kept hoping for an extra punch of punk to be thrown into the mix given Leary and Chao’s history as descendents of Loma Prieta, but much of that influence is diluted here. If anything the willingness to experiment within the pop structures that Staples is more accustomed to is a risk in itself. There’s growth to watch for with Mare Island as they begin to wind the makings of an identity around their promising sound.
Rating: Listenable
