MAITA - “Honey, Have I Lost It All?”

SXSW 2022 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 4

Pairs Well With…Alex Lahey, Helena Deland, Mitski

MAITA lets her 90s grunge-pop influences fly on the early tracks from her upcoming sophomore LP I Just Want To Be Wild For You, but delivers those riffs and melodies from a contemporary, bedroom rock angle. A little shoegaze fuzz and sense of melancholy go a long way to bridge that gap to the past, creating a sound both catchy and introverted, confident and distant. There’s even some post-punk eclecticism in MAITA’s songcraft, more subtle than jangly, but enough to detail the risk-taking in her writing. Moody and dreamy (“Road Song”), rumbling and breezy (“Pastel Concrete”), and new-wave dense (“Honey, Have I Lost It All?”) patterns form the foundation of each of these tracks - MAITA commits fully in each space to draw engaging disparity song to song. MAITA last record, 2020’s Best Wishes, takes from some of those same influences, but there’s a clear evolution in the fullness and creativity in these new songs that shows much growth just over a couple of years. (Kevin McStravick)