Portland (US) based band, The Mars McClanes, have just released their latest single, Day Is Done, and we’ve been taking several enjoyable listens to it here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today.
Day is Done is about that moment in your 20s when you finally understand that love you earn over time beats the kind you rush into. This is a real anthemic alt rock song that has some wonderful elements that thoroughly maintained our interest throughout the track. At 2 minutes and 28 seconds long, our only real complaint was that it was just too short!
Day Is Done starts gently with some very well recorded picked guitar. By the time the bass joins in, all of our heads were nodding, and when the drums join in the mix, they’re super clear and bright. The snare in particular sounds fantastic and we love how it’s filtered at times in the verses – that really helped build interest for us. The fills on drums were lovely too!
The vocals are crystal clear throughout. You can hear every word perfectly and there’s some very effective use of delay on them. The harmonies sit extremely well in the mix and back up the lead absolutely perfectly.
Day Is Done has a great pick up into a really anthemic chorus, and the rise and fall, stops and starts throughout this track break it up nicely and keep the listener on their toes.
There’s always something different to listen to in this song. Both the drums and the instrumentation are constantly changing and breaking up the different sections. It’s rare for drums to come and go in a track but it truly works here.
The bass is melodic and interesting. There’s some lovely work here to show some real skills from all members of the band and we can only imagine how enjoyable and how much fun they are to see live.
The whole track has a kind of Del Amitri feel to it. The vocalist occasionally has some Justin Currie nuances and Day Is Done wouldn’t be out of place on a playlist with artists like Del Amitri and The Fray.
Production wise, we honestly have no improvements to suggest. Everything is supremely well recorded, each instrument is given plenty of space to shine and nothing is dominating. Great job!
The Mars McClanes new single, Day Is Done, is a fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable indie rock track that lifts the soul and will make your head nod. Sure to garner them many new fans.