HEY, NOTHING - MAINE
Kenzie Gay - @kenzwrites
Atlanta, Georgia. Not only a major city that’s been on my destination bucket list for ages but also a flourishing place of rich history revolving around food, culture, attractions, and arguably the most important: music. Tons upon tons of musicians have risen up from Atlanta such as both members of Outkast, John Mayer, Ludacris, TLC, and The Black Crowes but for me, I’ve been more focused on the underdogs that hail from these major cities. The bands and soloists that are playing bars or medium sized clubs with sticky floors and no roadies. Those guys are where it’s at because this is their origin and we are witnessing it in real time. (Plus, the ticket prices are amazing.)
Hey, Nothing is one of those underdogs. Maybe not so much these days since they’ve continued to climb the ladder of popularity within the folk and indie communities but in hindsight they are still a small artist. A duo consisting of Harlow Phillips (they/them/theirs) and Tyler Mabry (he/him/his), Hey, Nothing is a force to be reckoned with despite their young ages of 19 (as of publishing). Named after an element from the renowned novel (and film) The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the duo first reached commercial attention after their 2022 single I Haunt Ur Dreams. More specifically, from the Tiktok video they uploaded of them playing it.
After that, a chain reaction of new fans and opportunities began. In the last near-two years, the “little” indie-folk duo has recorded and released a debut album, headlined Paradise Festival (2023) alongside Briston Maroney, Jack Van Cleaf, and associated acts, they’ve opened for singer Boywithuke, and now they’ve released Maine, an E.P. fresh off the presses.
Maine - an EP Review
TRACK 1 - THE SINK
Kicking off with The Sink, Maine positions itself as a collection of music derived directly from Tyler and Harlow’s personal experiences no matter how dark or sad. Specifically with this track, The Sink discusses themes of being friends/partners with a toxic (and possibly mentally ill/addicted) individual or rather, reminiscing on that from the past. I knew from the moment that Tyler and Harlow teased this song on their Tiktok that I’d fall in love with the lyrical components and voila, I was right. Having lived this exact scenario that The Sink so realistically outlines, there were without a doubt a few verses that really hit me square in the chest.
For example, in verse two both of them can be heard singing “Don’t bother putting me in one of your twelve steps. I don’t need a letter to know the truth. I heard the medicine you got ain’t doing shit. What’s it gonna take for you to finally admit? All the pain you caused, All the friends you lost, All the times you said you’re right, You’re really wrong. And all the pills you take, falling down the drain. You can’t swallow a mistake that you have made.” and that in itself is an extremely powerful set of lines for those who have had any part in dealing with destructive relationships, particularly with narcissists. The songwriting ability these kids have is a treasure and it only sharpens with each passing song.
TRACK 2 - TIMELINE
If you had asked me how much I thought I would relate to the songs off of Maine before listening, I probably wouldn’t have figured to be so moved as I am. Never would I think I’d have so much in common with two musicians from Georgia but here we are.
Timeline first blared through my Airpods while I was doing the dishes in my cramped apartment’s kitchen and I nearly dropped and shattered a plate over it. You can tell from the opening chords that it’s one of those songs that holds a melancholic sort of nostalgia, the kind found in other artists’ work such as Pinegrove or Big Thief’s. It is slow and menacing (as menacing as it can be considering Tyler and Harlow sing like angels) yet it manages to pick up into a quicker tone that only further conveys the agony, which is big in part due to the emotional vocals from either singer.
Like I foreshadowed, the lyrics with this one appeared to hit me even harder than The Sink’s. It talks of struggles within friendships and relationships that don’t seem to work out because it’s the wrong time, hence the song’s title. In Timeline’s chorus, it states “Couldn't find the words, I couldn't find the right time. I wanna be part of your timeline and It's all the same without a name. I wanna be part of your timeline, but it's not the right time”. This is a very prominent matter in life, especially during the era of growth that is your late teens and early twenties. As a newly-turned twenty year old who is quite literally going through this sort of thing right now, I can do nothing but applaud and salute Harlow and Tyler for hitting the head on the nail yet again (and for giving me a new song to cry over!).
TRACK 3 - PIECE OF YOU
Piece of You is much more stripped down in comparison to the rest of Maine but it’s intentional and if anything it only gives the piece a more pensive aura. The guitar, whether played by Harlow or Tyler in the studio version, holds a very Jack White presence (the White Blood Cells era of The White Stripes, specifically) that beckons gloomy emotions to come forward. The words only meld with this idea, as they talk of self discovery and on an even sadder note, I took it to be about the struggle to open up in relationships (or maybe even form them) due to past traumas and burdens.
The song’s pre chorus and chorus showcases how well Harlow can pump feelings into their singing style as they sing “Vacant rooms, torn up sheets, all they ever do is leave. Now you’re in, now you see all the things that torture me. I don’t know anymore. There’s a piece of me that I’m still looking for. I don’t know anymore. There’s a piece of you that I just can’t ignore”.
TRACK 4 - MAINE
Falling into the title track of this EP, my hopes and expectations were sky-high taking the past three tracks into consideration. In regard to this song and the entire EP, Harlow and Tyler took to Instagram on Maine’s release date, posting “last year in late july/early august, we took a trip to Maine to decompress and meditate on things that were happening in our lives. We never planned to write any of these songs but as soon as we got there, they poured out. These are the most vulnerable songs we’ve written to date and we knew we wanted to wait until we were sure the right people would hear it before we released it” and keeping that vulnerability in mind, it makes sense why Maine is the name of this EP.
Maine is all of the good things I’ve listed out about the past tracks: sorrowful, evocative, and commanding but it is also so much more in the best way imaginable. It surrounds the pair’s trip to Maine and deals with reflection and the feeling of being home in a place that’s actually pretty unfamiliar. Again, this is a piece I resonated with so deeply because I, too, have felt at peace and in my place in a state I’ve only visited once (Tennessee, for those that are curious). Furthermore, it seems to deal with wanderlust or at least the craving to get out there and experience new things. Maybe even the desire to escape from everything you’ve ever known.
“And I can't wait not to go home, so far away from everything I know. Is it okay for me to feel close to a place that I barely know? And I can't wait not to go home, so far away from everything I know. Is it okay for me to feel close to a place that I barely know?” is sung in the chorus yet the main mantra of the song shines through and that is none other than “I left my lungs in Maine” from the pre-chorus. It’s symbolic of the idea of leaving a piece of yourself behind in the place you truly felt one with; a genius and beautiful approach to lyricism.
It’s weird to feel so proud of a band that doesn’t know I exist but I can’t deny the immense pride I feel for Hey, Nothing. I’ve seen them blossom from their first taste of fame to now where they are gearing up for their first sold out headlining tour and in a way, it’s like I’ve grown alongside them since we’re the same age, too. It is heartbreaking that I can’t attend a live show of Hey, Nothing’s quite yet but it is with high hopes that they come to West Michigan some day so I can experience euphoria in the company of fire ass indie music. If you live in or around cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, or Nashville, then you might not be so lucky to get tickets since it’s sold out but surely you can sit outside and listen (that’s what I would do, anyway!) if you’re willing.
After Maine’s release, Hey, Nothing will embark on their aforementioned tour that begins on July 16th at Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles and they will also be on the road with alternative band The Moss this fall to open up shows in Richmond, Toronto, Salt Lake City, and several other places. Tickets are still available for shows coinciding with The Moss’s tour and maybe, just maybe, this pair of wicked talented Atlanta-natives will drop some more gigs or music for us to enjoy in the near future. For now, though, we have Maine and the rest of their discography to bask in for the summer and for me, that is more than enough.
