Back before emo was, you know, emo, Wisconsin’s Promise Ring was the form’s late-’90s standard-bearer. Singer Davey von Bohlen and bassist Dan Didier’s subsequent band, Maritime, has had a harder time finding its footing, perhaps because 30-year-olds get sensitive about different things than 20-year-olds. Von Bohlen is still mildly whiny, but given his distinctively wan vocals, even ecstatic gratitude (“For Science Fiction”) sounds like whining. Better is the chiming one-two punch of “Peril” and “Pearl,” which recall Lifes Rich Pageant-era R.E.M.
Now Hear This: Maritime – “Guns of Navarone” DOWNLOAD MP3