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The Mayflies USA are a classic-sounding Pop/Rock band hailing from the nurturing music scene in Chapel Hill, NC. Formed in the mid '90s, the band (who added the "USA" as a joke, not by legal obligation) had their '99 debut album, Summertown, produced by the dB's Chris Stamey, a man who knows a thing or two about making effective vintage-sounding Pop himself. The group's latest release is Walking In A Straight Line, another fantastic stab at glistening Big Star-styled melodies, harmonies and structures that would make even Chilton devotees Teenage Fanclub jealous. The skillful songwriting chops exhibited on Walking put the 'Flies at or near the head of the Pop/Rock class of current practitioners of the genre. The album also finds the band finding more of their own voice, diversifying the catchiness on tracks like the punchy title cut, the chiming, up-tempo "Can't Stop Watching," the Pete Yorn-ish "Written On Every Hour" and the amazing, melancholic closer, "Sweet 16." But even when the band does show their influences a little too much, their tunefulness is irresistible and they do a great job of filling in the open spaces with creative guitar additives and spare keyboard parts.
At The Comet on Saturday
— M.B.
