Mazes, 'Ores & Minerals' -- 47 Second Album Review

We all made mazes as kids -- we even enjoyed a few of them, walking through rows of corn on the first grade trip to the pumpkin patch. By the time you got back on the bus, the apples started falling in the orchard next door. Fall turned to summer in a blink. Did we leave the maze at the wrong spot?

You got older without realizing it. Your sweaters don't fit any more. The Ores & Minerals inside you have become pillars of salt and hormones. You take your scooter down the big hill next to the high school because you never learned how to skateboard. It's still cool right? You go so fast. And the wind feels awesome as it wraps around your shoulders.

You get "Sucker Punched" every time you see the quiet girl in Spanish class. Four years and you're finally going to say something. You build your personality on a bass line, making sure that every aspect of you thumps from the soles of your feet all the way to your hairline.

The sun is forever setting on a Friday night. The guitar in the corner of your room gets picked up more often now. Your chorus turns, plucking and pinching her hips. Your sex is discovered, and that's just on the first spin.

Bottom Line: Front to back, Mazes' Ores & Minerals is a sonically complex mouthful of your favorite food growing up. The entire album boasts impressive sound collages reminiscent of Wilco's A Ghost Is Born era, mixed with the repetitive grooving bass motifs of Television. It's an impressive effort from this New Zealand/England-based rock band.