Passages

Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Maserati play methodical, well thought out, and percussion-driven instrumental music, described by some as post-rock. I saw Maserati play in Portland earlier this year when they opened for the majestic MONO, one of my favorite bands of all time, also on the Temporary Residence label. I remember being impressed with Maserati’s tight and together live performance, and in particular, was impressed with the talented drummer, who seemed to drive the performance.

Out of eight songs on Maserati’s new Passages album, only two are new tracks. The others are remixes or songs from a split LP with the band Zombi that is now out of print. I know that some people probably don’t see much of a point in putting out a new album for what are mostly old songs and I would usually tend to agree. Not having the other albums from which most of these songs were gleaned however, everything was new to my ears and I am enjoying this album. The song “Monoliths,” one of the previously unreleased tracks, is particularly intriguing and ear-catching.

The structure of the songs is so steady and intentional that it can feel as if there are no climaxes and that the songs never really end, leaving the listener slightly unsatisfied. At points, the tracks can seem repetitive, particularly rhythmically, leaving the songs to blur together. Listening to Maserati makes me feel kind of frantic in a very logical way. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I do feel like the album is missing something I can’t quite put my finger on.

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