Album Review: The Mayflies USA – Kickless Kids

North Carolina boasts a proud power pop tradition. Maybe you call it melodic rock, or jangle rock, or indie rock or college rock; take your pick and don’t throw shade at the other labels. Whatever it’s labeled, the form has counted among its foremost exponents The dB’s, Let’s Active, Don Dixon, The Spongetones and several others. Amid all of that talent and critic’s-darling-ness, it would be easy for a very, very good band to suffer a bit of overlooking. It’s sort of like being a very good punk/new wave band in Manhattan in 1977.

The point is, you may or may not have even heard of The Mayflies USA. And you can and should be forgiven for that oversight, with the explicit proviso that – since I’m telling you about them now – you investigate their music post haste. Happily, even though the group got together in 1996 and released a succession of three albums between ‘99 and 2003 and then more or less went on extended hiatus, they are back.

In fact they came back once before, briefly. I had the good fortune to witness them live onstage in 2012 at Yep Roc 15, a multi-day festival at Chapel Hill’s Cat’s Cradle, on a bill with Los Straitjackets, Nick Lowe, Chuck Prophet, Dave Alvin, Robyn Hitchcock, Sloan, Fountains of Wayne, The Sadies, The Minus 5 and wow-wow-wow many other greats. And even though the band had been inactive for nigh on a decade at that point, they easily held their own, charging through a best-of selection from their three albums on Yep Roc. No new songs, though.

And alas, The Mayflies USA again went silent immediately thereafter. In 2020, a recording of that one-off performance was released digitally (me, I have a high quality audience recording of all three days, so I’m good) but for another decade-plus after the gig, the story was no news and no new music from The Mayflies USA.

Now, and to my knowledge without warning, here’s a new record from them. Kickless Kids finds three of the four original members – Matt Long, Matt McMichaels and Adam Price – still on board. Original drummer David Liesegang is no longer a member, though he plays on one track on the album. In his place is drummer Tony Stiglitz. Producing the session is Tim Harper, perhaps best known for his work for The dB’s and for The Connells, another North Carolina group I could have mentioned in that first paragraph. In fact he mixed the second of those three Mayflies albums for Yep Roc, 2000’s The Pity List.

Finally, now to the music. If one can imagine a cross between Fountains of Wayne and a dialed-down, slowed down Sugar, with harmonies that recall Material Issue, that might provide some helpful sonic touchstones for The Mayflies USA’s sound on Kickless Kids. The chiming jangle that characterized their early days is intact, yet it’s delivered without artifice, with polish but without gloss (if you will). The vocal harmonies are tight and heartfelt, and they’re supported by taut, muscular but not jock-rocky instrumentation.

Sounding a bit like The dB’s’ Will Rigby, Adam Price takes the lead on “Calling the Bad Ones Home.” “The tune strikes the perfect balance between melancholy and handclappy happiness. The title track has a windswept ballad feel, with some heartland rocking power chords adding muscle. Great subtle chord shading, and sweet vocal harmonies, too. “Railway Spine” leans even more in twangy direction, but it’s the good kind, with shades of Long Ryders and Old 97s.

A midtempo weeper with hooks, “Less Lost” has warm shades of ‘90s mainstream alternarock. A bit of soundscape (“Holes in the Paper Sky”) leads into “Cabbagetown,” a contender for the album’s best song. The Mayflies USA are one of the few bands that can make extensive use of hand claps without sounding retro or slavishly in service to a bunch of bands of the past. It’s worth pointing out that while some of the textures on Kickless Kids are reminiscent of other artists, not once do The Mayflies USA ever sound like (or sound like they’re trying to sound like) anyone else.

“Jewel of Russia” takes a rhythm that recalls The Clash’s “London Calling” and successfully applies it to a sweeter melody. “Summer Kept Slippin’” is unabashed country; the listener’s feeling about it will have much to do with their affinity for that style. (I’m subtly hinting at my own thoughts here.) To their credit, Greg Reading’s guest pedal steel is nice, and Matt Long’s vocals suggest VU-era Lou Reed.

“Come on Down” serves up c&w flavors of a different, er, flavor. And a much tastier one at that, recalling some of the twangier moments of Matthew Sweet’s landmark Girlfriend, or some of the Holsapple/Stamey gems.

Rock doth return triumphantly on “Twilight’s Aright,” a chiming and melodic rocker that may remind some listeners of Velvet Crush. Acoustic textures dominate the perfectly lovely – if melodically over-familiar – album closer “Roll it Down the Line.”

A few more power pop tunes and a bit less twang might have yielded a near-perfect album, but seeing as Kickless Kids is the first collection of new music from The Mayflies USA in more than two decades, this listener will happily and gratefully accept (and enjoy) what’s on offer here.