Written by Manon Bushong
Last week, Boston-based Main Era explained to me that their ability to cultivate cohesion within a sonically extensive record is akin to the complexity and dimensions of a human being. They were matter-of-fact about the idea, and I suppose it should feel like somewhat of a derivative notion; people can be multifaceted without bursting at the seams and presenting like a pile of disheveled dissonance, of course the music they create can too. However, in a climate where art is so heavily ambushed by pressures to fit into a niche, to confine into algorithm-approved margins, to be cunning and different but still palatable, the mere act of remembering that music can be a compounded reflection of the humans who create it is grounding. Main Era views the project as a functioning organism rather than a flat canvas. They refuse to tether it to any aesthetic or vision or purpose, and, based on the diverse nature of their discography, they also refuse to tether it to itself.
“I do not know if we have arrived at ‘a sound’ because I don’t even know if that’s the point. I am not sure if there is a destination,” Willie Swift explains. “Since the beginning, I think this band has had an ethos of creating a living, breathing sort of project – something that was growing with us and had its own life. This project may be in its adolescent years, it still has a bit of that teenage angst, but I think it’s really starting to gain its own consciousness perhaps.”
Main Era consists of Willie Swift, Maeve Malloy, Jack Halberian, and Gigi Greaves. It also consists of their mutual and individual excitements and, feeding off of the chapters of their lives, phases, states, interests, etc; occasionally freezing them into the form of recorded music without ever freezing Main Era itself. When Willie and Gigi began the project four-ish years ago (I suppose this would be Main Era’s fetal – if not prenatal years) it honored their then-excitement about rapping and trap beats and served as an outlet for mutually experienced breakup woes. They added Jack around the time they decided to start playing shows, and then Maeve cemented the project in the summer of 2022.
“If you go through the discography, there is definitely an evolution and there are still older tendencies or ideas that we used before that we expanded or improved upon, and then also newer things that we were inspired by,” Maeve notes. “We’ve never been like, “oh we’re going to be a rock band”, or “we’re going to be a shoegaze band” – though we did just inevitably fall under that umbrella and scene because it made the most sense sonically. But still, there has never been a goal like that, and, at least for me, I love the idea of just creating your own thing.”
Main Era is set to share new record Four of Wands next month. The record features tracks mixed by Nate Scaringi and Cameron Woody, as well as cover art by JJ Gonson. They shared first single, “Double Dragon”, last month, and the entire record will be released January 23rd via Interluxe Distribution – an independent tape label that Main Era runs out of Boston.
Four of Wands is comprised of four tracks; three of which teeter around ten minutes in length, and one that sits just under two minutes. Averting from the standard ten-or-so track record of three to four minute songs reflects an insolent ‘do whatever the hell you want’ ethos owned by likes of Sonic Youth, one of the bands that Main Era cited as an inspiration while creating Four of Wands.
“Sonic Youth has always been a muse of this band.” Willie notes.
“At this point, it is less about the exact sound and more about making whatever you want and playing it however and by any means necessary, regardless of your skill level.”
Alongside Sonic Youth, they gushed about a handful of artists they were excited about amidst writing and recording Four of Wands, which ranged from Electric Wizard and Boris to Jay Dilla and Sprain. Main Era also heavily centers the importance of live music; citing their tour with Brooklyn-based Wiring and a show they played with Kansas-based Flooding as heavy inspirations as well.
Passion and excitement serve as a sturdy compass for the music that Main Era creates, though not because they merely replicate whatever record is stuck in their head at the time. Rather, they find success in the authenticity that parallels honoring one’s own interests. They use enthusiasm as a fertilizer for their own art instead of appealing to what may be expected of them, or what might get them on a curated playlist titled “Shoegaze Now”.
“It’s such a thing that when bands change their sound, people get upset, and they’re like ‘well this isn’t the band I know and love’,” Maeve tells me. “For us, if you are into Main Era, you just have to know it’s going to be different each time.”
Their ability to compound themselves as individuals into a band that’s a multidimensional entity of its own is largely a result of their comprehensive approach to art, of which spills into how they write music as well. “It’s like putting a puzzle together, and finding out what ideas go well together,” Maeve explains. “We also take inspiration from the concept of creating a composition as opposed to writing a song. With a composition, you are telling a whole story and there is really a beginning, middle, and end. I think having that idea creates a more seamless flow between tracks.”
By centering composition in their songwriting and binding the record through cohesive instrumentation and tones, Main Era paves an avant-garde outlet where their ranged ideas and excitements can flourish in a sensical way. The record jumps from moments of stifled sludge to stripped back acoustic stretches to frenzied patches of discordant instrumentals. It touches on a ridiculous amount of textures and emotions and styles of music, and yet, it still manages to surface as an effortless listen. Not in a palatable, outlet-mall-music way; but in the sense that it’s hard to detect when one song ends and another starts. It all just feels like one holistic experience, and one distinct story.
“A loose concept story behind the lyrical content and flow of the album follows this character that undergoes a procedure to remove his memory,” Willie explains of the story within Four of Wands. “By some mistake, his memory is retained, but his identity to everybody else is removed. Like a ghost.”
Although they have no interest in a hardened sound for Main Era, the band is excited about the direction Four of Wands has taken them in, and how it bridges gaps between their live sets and recorded music. “Hopefully this is the first time that people actually like the recorded music as much as the live performances,” Maeve jokes. The band always prioritized their live music, and although they may feel some of their streamable discography does not live up to what they bring to a DIY show, there is something deeply refreshing about this (self-proclaimed) incongruence. Main Era prioritizes connection and tangible experiences over cultivating an online reputation. It’s a refreshing ethos, and one that’s certainly present on their forthcoming release.
“I just really love that we can make something that [causes] real reactions in people, and real emotions.” Jack notes. “It’s very beautiful, and artistically, that’s what I feed off of the most.”
The next opportunity to experience Main Era live is this Thursday, 12/18, at a benefit show and food drive in Boston. The show was put together by Maeve, and Main Era will play alongside wedding gift, makeout palace, DINOS, Ashy Finn, and K.O. QUEEN, raising money for Warm Up Boston, LUCE Hotline, and Food Not Bombs. You can find more information on the show below.
the ugly hug 