TRACK REVIEW: MAINTENANCE - "LOW LIFE"

TRACK REVIEW: 

MAINTENANCE - "LOW LIFE"

by Chris La Vigna (@instant_insanity_productions)

"Alright, who's been putting 'shrooms in the dog food again?"

    

         

        It's been quite some time since I've felt compelled to post anything on this blog. Life comes at you fast, y'know? I suspect the fellas in Maintenance, who in my opinion are one of the most consistently interesting bands in the 914 music scene, would agree with that particular truism.  Though the band has been playing plenty of gigs over the last year or so, they have been largely quiet when it comes to dropping new music.  It's more than understandable when you consider just how deep of an impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on not only the local music scene, but musicians and venues across the country. We've all had to adjust, re-organize, and re-prioritize what we've been doing with ourselves in some way or another.

And while we've all been working on that, the guys in Maintenance have been hard at work in the studio, and they've finally graced us with a hot new track to blast out of our speakers until the neighbors call the cops and riot in response: LOW LIFE.

The song starts with a slow, grinding, grooving riff that drops us right into the action, with some quick stops to give us a split second to reorient ourselves before the riff kicks in again and knocks us back down. Then, at the final pause before the first verse rolls out, we hear the spiritually exasperated sigh of frontman Christian Costa, and we know it's time. "This is not the first time/ Low life is all I see" he both screams and sings over a trudging backbeat and wailing guitars. 

The lyrics speak to feelings of hopelessness, dejection, rage, and sorrow. The instrumentals alternate between mid-tempo grinds and slightly sped-up melodic bridges to perhaps instill some faith that things can in fact change, only to then dive back into the crushing realization that maybe the lifestyle of a low life is all the storyteller and the listener will ever truly know.

The Yonkers band, which initially started as a three-piece, grew to a four piece when James from The Jukebox Romantics joined in on bass, and what a difference it makes! While he holds it down with the ill bassline, Phil and Costa's two-guitar assault brings the band's heaviness to new heights (and depths). And Frank's steady-yet-hard-hitting drumming solidifies it all. The chorus, with its chugging riffs and bleak refrains - "All Hollow/There's nothing left to see/Don't Follow/A Low Life is all! I'll! Be!"- hits you like a steel-toed kick in the gut, and when it repeats for one last time at the very end of track, you'll find the pain of that last hit lingering longer than anticipated. For myself, and I suspect a lot of other listeners as well, that ache reminds you that if you feel pain, you're still alive, and if you're still alive, all is never truly lost.

Maintenance is in peak form here, and ironically enough, this song, which is ostensibly about resigning yourself to a dark fate,  actually signals that the band is growing. Maintenance is staying true to their core ethos of always working on yourself, always striving to improve and evolve, even when you're under the most intense pressures. If you're smart, you'll stick around to catch whatever form they take next...

Low Life can be found on all streaming platforms. Be sure to catch Maintenance live this month in the NY/CT area.