album of the week: 6.3

Maritime

Human Hearts

(2011)

why you'll love it: you need background music that nobody in the room will get angry with?

why you'll hate it: boring!

Last week's subtle charm through modesty is something rare. Now for something a bit more familiar - bad mediocrity. Maritime is a band is really want to be good, but it seems like the sublime pop-perfection found in We, The Vehicles (2006) was only a fluke.

Human Hearts falls into the same trappings that their last album, Heresy And The Hotel Choir (2007), did. Nothing sticks out musically or lyrically. Most songs feel like random thoughts and half finished melodies. Some don't have any real endings; they just end. The production is rigid, and doesn't allow any songs to develop a personality. Heresy had "The Guns of Navarone", but I can't think of anything on this album that feels special. If I try really hard, I can remember a couple seconds of "Air Arizona" or "Paraphernalia", just because they are a little bit faster than the other songs on here.

Human Hearts is entirely unoffensive. Not a single eye rolling moment or embarrassing lyric. It even steers clear of cliches. The production is consistent. It just does nothing to stimulate, and not even that much to distract. It's waiting room rock.