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Tooth & Nail Records is becoming a popular step for bands looking for mainstream success. With distribution placing their releases in major stores such as Best Buy and Tower Records, signing with Tooth & Nail is almost a prerequisite for an alternative band to jump from the Christian to mainstream marketplaces.

Virginia-based band Mae has been vocal about their desire not to be categorized as a Christian band. "We’re selling records, not a belief system," says singer Dave Gimenez. Indeed, the band has distanced themselves as much from the Christian music subculture as possible, with the only possible sign of identification with that culture being the Tooth & Nail logo stamped on their record, Destination: Beautiful.

But Mae’s dreams of major success depend less on the distribution than on the songs themselves, and each follows the same general pattern: emo-pop verses sung in Gimenez’ reserved, almost polite voice and a silky-smooth hook on the chorus. There is little room for spontaneity here; each song seems well-rehearsed, almost sterile. The album’s best moments come in the little surprises, such as the light piano closing "Sun."

Mae is a mature band, already a step ahead of most bands at this stage in their career. They know how to create tidy pop songs and have submitted eleven for our consideration. Destination: Beautiful isn’t particularly groundbreaking, but Mae is too talented not to be noticed.

John Wilson 4/21/2003