The second of Mae's 2009 EPs is not just a step down; it's a dismount. Overly long songs with nowhere nearly enough substance to justify their running times, clich?lines about fathers and communication, and a lack of what made Mae good in the first place results in a difficult record that lacks any cohesion. There's respite in the brilliant Falling Into You, while In Pieces and The Cure are passable songs, but even they sound incomplete., and the rest of (A)fternoon sounds tired and laboured. Cross your fingers for (E)vening, folks.
So Mae continue to expand on their newfound experimental tendencies from the (m)orning EP into the (a)fternoon EP. The initial listening might come of as a shock cause this is probably one of their most drastic (although subtle) changes on their sound. The aesthetics and cinematic sound that they usually surround themselves with is stripped down here for a much more intimate sound. Overall, this is a much more mature and laid back Mae-so while it isn't as grand as The Everglow or even Singularity-it's certainly fun to see them try new things cause in the end they still manage to release a solid collection of experimental pop rock songs. Unfortunately what really nearly kills this is the filler opening and closing tracks that really stumble awkwardly in and out of the album
