Customer Reviews

Glass Floor

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to level with you.

I think all of The Promise Ring's records were brilliant. However, I especially loved "Very Emergency!" and "Electric Pink". To me, that was TPR playing in a style that didn't require over-stretching. Laid-back pop that made sense and sounded a hell of a lot better than anything on the mainstream radio.

That said, Maritime is certainly in that vein. It's not intellectually challenging, but it is up-tempo and extremely catchy. Davey's distinct voice blends well with horns strategically placed.

If you want modern emo, watch TRL. If you want well-crafted pop, buy "Glass Floor".

Davey Von bohlen, former vocalist and main songwriter for the late great emo transition to pop band, The Promise Ring, has taken another step in a new direction. Davey brought along his former drummer for Promise Ring, Dan Dieder, and teamed up with bassest Eric Axelson from the recently broken up Dismemberment Plan, to form Maritime.
Daveys lyrics and voice shines once again in the new Maritime release, Glass Floor. It is a predeccesor of Wood/Water, but has added a horn section and some ochestra pieces to give the album some added wieght. After a few listens, you will soon find yourself humming and singing along with the wonderful arragement of melodies that this album posesses.
The Promise Rings last album, Wood/Water, seems to be a pivitol point in Daveys song writing. The lyrics in Glass Floor show a lot of similarity and are emotional and heart felt. The song writing may not be as smart as Wood/Water, but Glass Floor still delivers good taste of the new sound they have envoked.
The arrangment of tracks is great, making the album flow smoothly. The tracks you will probably look foward to the most is the bouncing "Sleep Around", followed by one of the most catchy tracks on the album, "Someone Has To Die". The album slows down a bit and delivers two great ballads, "King of Doves" and "James". Soon after, "Adios" makes its appereance and blasts you with an arrangement of horn sounds that will be stuck in your head all day. These are just a few of the tracks that have really stuck out, and I have only had the album a couple of days!
Give it a try, and a few listens. You won't be dissapointed!

After reading a lot of these reviews it appears everyone has a different opinion on this. My advice is, if you are interested, get it. If you like it, great. If you don't then you can put it on your shelf to try again later or sell it to a used CD store. When you listen to this album keep a COMPLETELY open mind. Forget everything about The Promise Ring, Vermont and all related bands.
If you can't do that, I must say I hear a lot of similarities to A.Promise Ring - Wood/Water B.Simon & Garfunkel C.John Mayer and some similarity to D.Promise Ring - Horse Latitudes. A in the sense that it is Davey here and he still has a similar form of song writing after TPR's last album, B in vocals and in a lot of the acoustic songs, C in a lot of melodies, and D because it still has that good ol' clean cut pop feel to it.
My opinion on how this album sounds is excellent. This seems like one of those CDs I'm gonna refer back to and remember when I'm older.
Listen to it, if you don't agree with me then don't lose sleep over it.

Maritime's Glass Floor is not TERRIBLE; it's just perfectly mediocre, which to many music purists equals...TERRIBLE. Those fans of the Promise Ring's early material who checked out after the cutesy noise of Very Emergency and likely weren't recaptured by the somber droning of Wood/Water surely will not have any reason to celebrate this latest incarnation. And even the diehards who stuck around through the last two Promise Ring releases have no choice but to admit that by the time track 6 comes on, this album is something of a disappointment. The problem with Maritime is that they've found that musical no-man's-land between the thrilling unguarded energy of the early TPR songs and the subsequent raw, lo-fi, heart-on-sleeve balladry of Vermont. Here, they've appeared to merge the two into something unholy in it's preciousness. That being said, there is a way to save this emo Teddy Ruxpin from total cd-changer banishment (in four easy steps):
1. Buy the album.
2. Save the files to your computer.
3. Remove tracks 08, 10, and 13 ("Souvenirs", "I'm Not Afraid", and "Human Beings").
4. Rearrange the remaining songs into the following order:
i. "james"
ii. "someone has to die"
iii. "if all my days go by"
iv. "king of doves"
v. "a night like this"
vi. "adios"
vii. "we've got to get out"
viii. "sleep around"
ix. "lights"
x. "the window is the door"

By trimming the excess and forging a more logical track order, Glass Floor can be saved. Follow these instructions, and the album is not only tolerable, it's ultimately quite likable. Seriously.

Maritime's debut is filled with TPR-ish songs with the same singer/guitarist and drummer from the TPR(who penned the songs) and the bassist from the Dismemberment Plan(great band also) and studio musicians, but I bet you already knew that. It's mellow like Wood/Water and has a lot a mellotron, piano, organ, and strings/horns. GF is also produced by the same guy who produced TPR's third album, this man has produced and recorded lots of stuff...J. Robbins. The production really makes this sound like a cross between Wood/Water and Very Emergency...you can like that or not. I personally think that's a good thing, because I liked both of those.

"The Window is a Door" really dragged me into the album personally and I loved it(although I did read the lyrics the first time thrrough). It's an acoustic that last about four minutes and it's really just dare I say pretty.

The other songs good tunes are:the catchy as all heck "Someone Has to Die", "King of Doves", "We've Got to Get Out", "James", "Souvenirs", "Adios", "I'm Not Afriad", and "A Night Like This"...The rest are OK but don't compare to these.

This album may seem EXTREMELY terrible at the first get go.... The first three songs on this Marimtime album are not very strong. In fact, you will be shaking your head wondering why you bought this album as the third song ends. Thankfully, the fourth song "King of Doves" is truly spectacular. Songs 5 and 6 are also very good. Don't fall for the hoopla on the song Adios. It is almost unlistenable. The lyrics are absolutely horrible, and the song itself is uncomfortably embarrassing to listen to. But songs #10 and #11 are very solid, and the album itself grows on you and is really pretty damn good. Skip the first three, say adios to adios, and what you have is a very good album. It is NO Woodwater, by any means, not even close, but if you skip past the song Adios, and the first three, you have yourself a nice listen.

Adios,

Gatto

Maritime is essentially made up of band members from the former emo band The Promise Ring. It's a little funny hearing such cheerful indie pop from a group of guys who were once heavily into sadness and, well, "emo". "Glass Floor" is not a classic, but it has a bunch of good indie pop songs which makes it a very satisfying purchase ("Someone Has To Die" and "Window Is The Door, The" are good examples). The first three tracks are arguably the best ones out of the bunch. Unfortunately the album suffers from a few things that hurt its rating. The rest of the songs aren't BAD, but compared to the first three they aren't as wonderful. The singer is pretty good for the band's style, but it *might* turn a couple people off. The lyrics are pretty good and even catchy and memorable for several songs (again, the first three. They aren't necessarily that deep, though). The musicianship is decent but not something to wholeheartedly praise. What stops it from earning 5 stars are two things - the singer's voice and that none of the songs are "great" (they're mostly just good). There's just something about it that doesn't "awe" me like the other 5 star albums I've rated have (though the first three are so very close). Overall, however, The Promise Ring and indie pop fans should really like this album, though I would argue not *greatly*. Recommended.

Highlights include:
"Window Is The Door, The"
"Sleep Around"
"Someone Has To Die"
"King Of Doves"
"We've Got To Get Out"
"Night Like This, A" (kind of)
"Adios"
"If All My Days Go By"
"Lights"
"Human Beings" (sort of)

Maritime
Glass Floor
May 31, 2004

Grade: C-

For some unknown reason, a super band such as Maritime with a stellar EP should have a terrific debut release, but such things that seem obvious, just don't occur. When the Promise Ring broke up, guitarist/vocalist Dave von Bohlen and drummer Dan Didier got bored and decided to start a new band. They called up then recently unemployed Bassist Eric Axelson, who had just seen his popular band, Dismemberment Plan, break up. Together these three talents created a wonderful EP called "Adios" in late 2003.

"Glass Floor" is the band's debut long player and is really a hit or miss album. Some of the songs are excellent, some are definately not.

The opening track, if one does not listen all the way through, will stop people from continuing to listen. "The Window is the Door" starts off really slow, and seems unenthusiastic. But the song starts up and becomes a very solid track.

"King of Doves" is one of the better tracks on the album with a very nice chorus line. Though in the end most of the songs sound fairly similar; slow guitar relaxers with von Behling's mediocre voice.

The really shining songs of the album, unfortunately, are the ones that appear on the Adios EP. "Someone has to Die" and "Adios" are stellar tracks with a full range of instruments and a very upbeat sound. "Adios" is definately one of the catchiest songs of the year, and would be a sure fire hit if radios play it.

In the end, the album has its moments, but really falls short of expectations; especially considering the band members involved in this project. The album isn't as EMO as one would think with poster boy emo band Promise Ring members, nor is it pushing the envelope with Axelson from Dismemberment Plan. It's more of a pop rock ballad that doesn't end. Sad for an album that I really was looking forward to.