So, I downloaded Maritime’s new “We, the Vehicles” CD from iTunes last night. Tina needed something to listen to on her trip to Long Beach, CA, over on the left side of the continent. Maritime, if you’ve never heard of them, are the newish band featuring Davey von Bohlen of the late, great Promise Ring. I admit it, I was among the Promise Ring’s legion of fans in the mid-to-late 1990’s — I make no apologies for loving their music. I even liked their “mature” final record, “Wood/Water,” which was unfairly bashed by fans of their more accessible pop and emo songs.

But seriously, how were they supposed to follow up “Very Emergency?” That was (in my estimation), the best pop record of the late 1990’s, having more in common with Velocity Girl’s masterpiece “Simpatico” than the emo movement the band helped start. The three-pronged pop assault of “Happiness is all the Rage,” “Emergency Emergency” and “Deep South” that opened up the record has yet to be topped. Yes, there have been better albums (The Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” springs to mind), but the beautiful simplicity and feeling in “Very Emergency” has few rivals.

Maritime’s first record played a lot like “Wood/Water” part two — it was okay, maybe a bit more upbeat than the final TPR record, but it lacked something essential that kept me from getting into it. However, the same cannot be said of “We, the Vehicles” — it’s full of tremendous (and sometimes subtle) hooks, great lyrics, and most importantly, great songs. The line “We are powerful despite our injuries” in the opening track “Calm” pretty much describes my life right now. It makes me realize just why I loved Davey’s songs so much ten years ago, and how he still remains a great (and underappreciated) writer of pop songs. There’s something comforting about his voice — so imperfect by today’s glossy overproduced standards, so normal and honest and casual. He’s one of us, singing songs about regular life, our failures and triumphs and everything in between.

This is what first drew me to indie rock back in 1993, and it’s why I continue to follow great bands like Maritime, albeith less obsessively than when I was 20. It’s a relief to hear from him again, to know that he’s still out there making great music.