Summary:The fourth full-length release for the Aaron Maine project was co-produced by Jake Portrait and features contributions from Dev Hynes, Peter Maine, Mitski, and Zsela.
Chaos often ensues within oneself following heartbreak, and Maine captures that devastating chaos beautifully on Ricky Music, sometimes too accurately. It’s not always an easy listen, but it’s certainly a very relatable one.
It’s too bad the rest of the record can’t match its ["Madonna"] energy. Still, even as a series of sketches and fragments, Ricky Music captures the essence of a breakup album.
As a single artistic statement, the flaws are hard to overlook. Yet, it also has intensely personal moments of revelatory beauty. If the listener is willing to look past the weaker elements, the standout tracks on Ricky Music can make it a worthwhile listen.
At times the meandering is frustrating, while at others the release when a song finally locks into its groove, as on the twisting Lipstick Song, makes the experimentation all worthwhile. [May 2020, p.110]
For all its crystallised pop production, ’Ricky Music’, can’t help but feel flat. More concerned with evoking a feeling and mood rather than say anything explicit about the sadness, confusion and joy that Maine has experienced in the creation of the record beyond broad stereotypes of sadness.
Went into this album with high expectations on the basis of those stellar singles. Can't say I'm VERY disappointed but I am a bitWent into this album with high expectations on the basis of those stellar singles. Can't say I'm VERY disappointed but I am a bit underwhelmed. After the first three tracks which are near-perfect, some of the tracks feel incomplete, and not complementing each other in an album form. It does have my absolute favourite track of the year so far though!
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The overrunning theme of the album presents Maine as a pathetic, self-loathing character who would do anything to see his ex lover back with him. This presents a relatable premise as we've all been that person or at least had a friend who's been in that situation before: a friend who we constantly have to stop from looking at pictures of the ex, or getting drunk and calling her up. It feels like the diary of that friend where all his darkest desperate thoughts are written, things that he can't say out loud for the risk of being cussed by his friends. Here is what Maine himself said:
"Like any other type of diary, when you open up an old one you can feel all sorts of things: proud, ashamed, excited, mortified, humbled, out of your mind, smart, idiotic. I feel all of these things about Porches."
'PFB' is a perfect example of that where he repeatedly sings "It's looking bad / It's looking pretty f*cking bad" to a post-punkish tune. I know I've had days when I've written something of that sort as a diary entry.
But while I get the idea behind including a track like 'PFB', it really breaks up the flow of the album. It would work better in an album which experimented more with its compositions. Maybe another similar but more extended track at the end would have justified its inclusion, but it just feels out of place here. Especially because the very next track (I Wanna Ride) goes back into the synthpop vibe of Lipstick Song. I Wanna Ride is one of my favourites-- love the way it ends with a beautifully narrated verse. 'Madonna' is another song I couldn't get totally into. Sometimes I really like it, sometimes I end up skipping it. Can see it being the next single as it's one of the most danceable tracks in there.
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|| Highlights ||
'Patience' is a great opener with Maine talking about how he's rooting for him and his past lover to get back together.
'Do U Wanna' is my track of the year so far with its beautiful blend of irony, sadness, insanity and dark humour over a tune that could easily deceive you to think it's a happy romantic song if you weren't paying attention to the lyrics.
'I Wanna Ride', like I've mentioned before, is one of my favourites. Lyrically its one of the saddest. Maine dreams of a future with the girl which you know is never going to happen: of riding with her into the night with the windows down.
'Hair' is brilliant. I just wish it was longer and had sort of an instrumental interlude in the middle. But that's just my opinion. Maine whines "Can you take me back?" helplessly, "Or I'll f*ck the hair on the head / Of my nine year old self again" (??!). Here he cuts the most pathetic image, which was the intention.
'Wrote Some Songs' had so much potential. This should have been a longer and more complete song. Love the premise of him being being dead at the pearly gates where when asked what he has done with his life, he would scream " I wrote some **** songs". You can feel the self-hatred and doubt about his life here. Makes it so poignant and relatable.
'rangerover' is a great way to end the album. Morose, but at least he wants to live!
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