Maritime

Tuesday, June 1; the Rocket Bar

Comments (0) By Jess Minnen Wednesday, May 26 2004

It may have taken the power-punk and emo threads of rock longer to follow in their hard-rock cousin's footsteps, but their supergroup formula (à la Audioslave) certainly eclipses the latter in quality and talent. Enter Maritime, a group composed of the members of other decomposing bands -- an ashen, pop phoenix, if you will, that rises and spreads its hoary wings thanks to members of Promise Ring and Dismemberment Plan. Both successful bands in their own right, they broke separately and of their own accord in late 2002, and in 2003 Promise Ring singer/guitarist Davey Von Bohlen and drummer Dan Didier teamed up with Dismemberment Plan bassist Eric Axelson to become, in short order, Maritime. You know Von Bohlen -- he's one of those songwriters who's so prolific that his full-time band can't get around to recording all the songs he's written, so he starts a part-time band and releases two albums, in this case two sets of casually sweeping four-track songs recorded with Didier and released under the band name Vermont. But before the Promise Ring phoenix could securely sink its talons into Axelson, it recorded an EP aptly titled Adios, an EP few actually own because it was a limited-edition release, and the band only sold it on its first tour (an affair featuring accompaniment by Mark Kinsella, late of American Football and Owen) and in independent record stores. And now, a year and some studio time later, Maritime is a happy if discombobulated family, and there is an album, Glass Floor, that flexes a sort of muscular pop, a sound that branches out from its hereditary roots without chopping down the family tree. Recommended for fans not only of power pop but also of the slightly soap-operatic scene of band genealogy.