The Mae Shi's new album HLLLYH proves to be a hyperactively good time

References to religion are frequent on the album.

By Joel Schafer

Published Feb. 29, 2008

Attention Deficit Disorder is a mental affliction in which those diagnosed have difficulty focusing and suffer from hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Most people have at least one friend who has been diagnosed with this affliction and then been put on some kind of pill to help them focus and function in society.

The Mae Shi must collectively suffer from this disorder and probably do not take any kind of medication for it.

Thank God they don’t, otherwise the L.A. electronic punks wouldn’t be very Mae Shi-ish. And with one listen to HLLLYH, it’s easy to notice that whoever made this music must get bored very quickly with whatever is going on and then moves to a new idea.

The band probably thanks God as well, as they prove on HLLLYH, which can be roughly translated as either “hell yeah” or “halleluiah.”

But the thanking is presumably done in the most sarcastic way imaginable — “Get ‘em out of those bodies!/Get ‘em out of those bodies!” is a chant that comes along within the first five minutes of pressing play.

The album is a well-disguised concept album that revolves around religion.

It is not easily summarized as a scattershot of twee synth, strained pop vocals, angular guitar riffs, quickly rattled prose rants and techno-inspired dance beats all in place, with few breakdowns in between. Sound like a sensory overload? You better believe it. But who doesn’t like being overwhelmed by a billion ideas at once every once in a while?

Past albums from The Mae Shi have been criticized for being too disjointed and irregularly put together, making the music just too hard to listen to (although their live shows have always been a highly praised spectacle for this same reason).

On their new release, the band seems (only) slightly more intent on creating a more cohesive sound, making the listeners feel as though they are caught in a Technicolor whirlwind created by nearly every instrument imaginable.

The moment the whirlwind lets up leads to one of the best moments on the album with “I Get Almost Everything.” It might be an extremely simple song, but in context with the rest of the album, it comes along at the perfect moment.

But an album made by musicians with an attention span this short can’t be perfect. Since most of the tracks barely last more than two minutes (not counting the 11-minute remix of the rest of the album, “Kingdom Come”), HLLLYH suffers from whiplash.

Thousands of volts of energy come at the listener in a track, and then suddenly stop just when everything starts to make sense.

HLLLYH could easily make The Mae Shi the poster boys for a protest against Ritalin, showing that those who like constant change can be interesting artists, even more so than those who are too focused.

After all, weren’t we all just waiting for an album from an electronic punk band that constantly refers to the Bible? Hell yeah!