Review by Shannon Shumaker
Not one song on Ma Jolie’s Jetpack Mailman clocks in at over three minutes long, but these four tracks manage to show more variety than most bands with full-lengths full of songs that are over five minutes long. Jetpack Mailman is explosive and in your face right off the bat, with the bass-heavy opening track “Tired Life,” and it only seems to grow with the other three tracks. Despite the fact that “Tired Life” is only a little over one minute and thirty seconds long, it manages to catch you off guard halfway through, transitioning from fast guitar and aggressive screams to a catchy bass part and clean vocal harmonies, and that seems to only set the pace for the other three songs.
When the second Track, “Ego Tourism” comes in, it’s apparent that this EP is carried heavily by the fuzzy guitar tones and incredible (and dirty) bass work from the first track. And I mean it when I say the bass work is amazing – the tone is unlike anything I’ve heard before, making “Ego Tourism” very memorable and worth listening to a couple times through before you continue with the final two tracks. But again, “Ego Tourism” is more than just cool guitar and bass tones. Vocally and lyrically, the song is strong as well and shows quite a bit of variety.
“Pittsburgh” swaps dirty bass parts for relatively clean and pretty guitar work and absolutely stunning vocal harmonies among aggressive yells. Easily the cleanest and most melodic track on Jetpack Mailman, “Pittsburgh” is catchy as hell, yet still hosts those great guitar and bass tones from the beginning of the album, proving that Ma Jolie know how to be diverse while still remaining true to their trademark sound. I think the only complaint that I have on the entire EP is that, at times, the recording quality of the vocals doesn’t seem to be quite as on par with the other instruments. (That could also just be me being nit-picky, though, as it is truly hard to find a flaw on this EP.)
Closing out Jetpack Mailman is “Canyons,” which again, has some remarkable bass work and great vocal harmonies. For only a three piece, there is so much going on with this EP, making it sound very full, versatile and well thought out. If this is what Ma Jolie can do with a four song EP, I can’t wait to see what they accomplish with another full-length.
Rating: 5/5
Listen to “Tired Life”