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The Everglow follows the journey of a scruffy emo-lad through a storybook world.  Donning a pilot-hat and toting his travel briefcase, he traverses oceans by riding atop friendly whales, finds companionship while walking in a wide candlelit field, trudges through nightmarish forests full of sinking mud pits, and faces crossroads with faded street names in an effort to reach his destination- The Everglow.  

The CD is colored and slightly ridged to look and feel like a vinyl record; upon pressing play, slight deliberate record scratching in the background are heard to further denote the concept.  An amiable female voice greets then politely instructs the listener, as a storyteller to a circle of eagerly listening children, to open the booklet and observe the water-colored/hand-drawn art accompanying each song to complete the experience.  If The Everglow gets points for anything at all, it’s how effectively the recording has realized the concept behind it-- the listener is immediately swept into the mood, and won’t want to stop listening till the same female voice bids goodnight in the epilogue. 

The lyrics are passable by themselves, the musical pieces solid, and the concept easily discarded as pretentious when considered on its own; but when everything is mixed together, it’s almost mind-blowing how inspired The Everglow feels.  I can’t see anyone imagining the journey portrayed in the booklet’s artwork through the relatively ambiguous and simple lyrics themselves, nor does the artwork completely reveal what themes and situations are being portrayed without the musical accompaniment.  With the images from the booklet stamped in the back of your mind, the songs really do provide a sense of storybook wonder and childhood marvel.  

That isn’t to downplay Mae’s songwriting, though; minus a couple tracks where the cheese gets the best of them, nearly all of the other tracks are solid, and some of them spectacular.  “Painless” kills with an amazing chorus full of destructive guitar lines and slight prog-rock tones while “Anything” soars as high as a pop-rock ballad possibly can, with an incredible melody set to glistening guitars and ringing church bells.  But it’s how the songs tie into and are further exemplified by the other aspects of The Everglow disc that makes it such a commendable project.

As alluded to in the lyrics and revealed fully in the artwork, the project's themes are universal. They are embodied in the story of the young, lone traveler through the hardships he faces and lessons he learns.  The experiences of the traveler could be the band member’s life story so-far, from searching for truth and fulfillment in the world, to eventually finding it in The Everglow.  “Oh, and our hearts are on the Everglow, so just let go and fall into it.”

Yes, it’s true that The Everglow is an emo-tinged pop-rock recording; it’s just that it’s a good one. It succeeds as an inspired and well-realized musical experience, a rare achievement in its field.  Much greater than the sum of its parts, The Everglow deserves acclaim for achieving what it set out to be; an experience.  It is, and one that shouldn't be missed.  

Jonathan Avants 6/05/05