Raine Maida's "Love Hope Hero" EP

Fighter planes running round my head, running round my head
I got to go, go, go
And sex, love, honey that I taste
Honey makes we wait
Honey says she's late

I absolutely adore Raine Maida. The above song "Sex Love and Honey" is pretty worthy of adoration and admiration as well.

Maida released his first solo effort, Love Hope Hero, about a week ago. There are 4 songs...I had heard the full versions of 2 of them, "One Second Chance" and "Earthless" on his myspace (http://www.myspace.com/rainemaida) and there are now 2-minute samples of all the songs on his website (http://www.rainemaida.net). My order of the EP finally arrived in the mail today and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are more changes to the songs past the 2-minute mark and even more awesome is that I think they're the best parts of each song.

I immediately like what I heard of "Sex Love and Honey". It was upbeat, in an indie sort of way. My only gripe is the flute...the song would sound so much better without it. Other than that, the rhyme and repetition works well (and I usually can't say that about most songs). Not in the preview is the bridge with background vocals lent by Maida's wife, Chantal Kreviazuk. Her voice has a rather creepy, haunted sound to it which really works well with this song. Without a doubt, this is my favourite track. I could listen to it on repeat for who knows how long.

"Careful What You Wish For" is another exceptional piece. I love how it starts with this suspenseful, dramatic almost primal beat and later decends into this mellow, solitary atmosphere backed by the piano. Best lines of the song..."I'm an Italian Catholic punk and I'm on my way"..."Mother, what have I done?" and surprise, and surprise..."I'm gonna leave California" (after hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers refer to California in just about all their songs, it's refreshing to hear someone use it without making me want to bang my head against a wall). And for opera fans, there's opera here.

It really did take me a second chance to get into "One Second Chance". This was the first song Maida put out on myspace and to hear him reduce his wide vocal range to rap/talky singing took a little getting used to. At first, I could only stand the verses (the only part he sings) but now I actually like the entire song. I think he's doing well with a style he's just started to try out. This song screams political protest and is a taste of of Maida's social conscience and political activism.

When listening to "Earthless", I can't help but think of "Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins. The song is mellow throughout and sounds rather sparse (but not in a bad way)...I think acoustic is a better word to describe it.

Long review short...I think it's a shame this EP isn't out in stores (you can get it at http://www.werkshop.com or at one of his shows - he's in Edmonton Feb. 13 at the Jubilee Auditorium headlining Chantal Kreviazuk) because I think it's one of the best evolutions of an artist that I've heard in a while and as a long-time Our Lady Peace fan who's recently become disillusioned about Maida's creativity (and no, I'm not one of those Gravity or Healthy in Paranoid Times bashers), I can easily say that Love Hope Hero is way better than anything (except for maybe "Angels Losing Sleep") that OLP has done in the last 6 years.