Rainer Maria - Hell and High Water 7"
(Polyvinyl)
Of the people I know who are really into music, most are so old and crotchety
now that they cannot find it in themselves to enjoy emo or pop-punk. Instead
they just complain about the "kids" and their "simple, infantile guitar
melodies" and about how "it's all been done before." Interestingly, though,
a large portion of those old fogeys still really enjoy Rainer Maria, who
stylistically aren't much different than all those other punk bands yet
still seem to transcend the others' limitations.
As a tease for the band's upcoming full length (due in January 2001), Rainer
Maria has released this two song single. This single is your standard
tease--one great song from the album and one song not worth putting on an album.
The great song is "Hell and High Water," a line from which ("A better version
of me") is the title of the upcoming album. The song follows the same
Rainer Maria formula of the past two albums using a very strong guitar hook
with literate, personal,
I-can't-believe-my-English-professor-gave-me-a-B-on-my-term-paper lyrics.
While lyrics like "giving you the finger!" would usually be a red flag to
underdeveloped writing, Rainer Maria make it seem charming--a cute phrase
that fits in with the well crafted whole.
The throw away B-side of this single is "Paper Sack," an acoustic song recorded
at home. Based on just voice and two layers of acoustic guitar, the song is
quite different than all other Rainer Maria material. The song uses a simple
plucked acoustic guitar melody that repeats itself through the entire song.
The lyrics and Kyle Fischer's singing are at least adequate (Fischer's vocals
seemed to have improved quite a bit over the band's career), but the guitar
part is a bore, so much so that this song is hard to listen to.
By all means find the A-side to this single on your favorite bootleg MP3
depot. However, as a whole, this single is not worth your money. Perhaps
the only benefit to having this material on 7" is being able to hear how much
Caithlin Demarrais sounds like a man when played at 33.3 rpm.
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