Weakened Friends w/MAITA

Portland, Maine indie rock trio Weakened Friends dive into the honest truth of being a working musician on their new LP, Quitter, reflecting on lost friendships and self-worth swallowed up by burnout. Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Sonia Sturino is supported by Annie Hoffman (bass/vocals) and Adam Hand (drums), filling out a mature and emotive sound. 

Central to the record thematically is the empty threat of quitting music and “getting a real job”. Sturino wrestles with her relationship with music on the title track, shouting “I love it, but it never really feels okay” over scorching guitars. Despite the implications of the title, quitting is not an option for the band.  Even as friends settle into adulthood, Weakened Friends find themselves trapped in a fortress of their own creation, inseparably attached to the eternal youthfulness of life in music. In this liminal zone, life passes by and friendships are weakened, and Quitter takes plenty of time to mourn these losses.

Chunky, distorted riffs support snarky, cutting vocals on “Everything is Better”, a tongue-in-cheek acceptance of one such broken friendship. Agile shifts between heavy fuzz guitar and softer, more introspective moments follow the vocals through tumult and triumph as Sturino envisions what’s being said about her from the other side of the conflict. Leaning into a perception of her as cold and uncaring, Sturino revels in the role of the villain, taking jabs like “everything is better when you’re not around”. 

Hot off the heels off MAITA's 2020 debut, Best Wishes,  named one of the “50 Albums that Define Oregon” (Portland Monthly), MAITA’s sophomore LP, I Just Want To Be Wild For You, digs into the crippling oxymoron of modernity: the constant bombardment of communication paired with utter disconnection. 

Released February 18th via venerable indie label Kill Rock Stars, I Just Want To Be Wild For You grasps passionately for a world that too often seems at a gauzy distance.

Of the new record, Bob Boilen (NPR music) says "She just has this sensitivity to her sound that I really really love."  

KEXP calls MAITA, "a master storyteller who can turn intimate moments into quippy, catchy indie-rock songs.

Splitting time between her mom’s Japanese-speaking home and her father’s English-speaking home, songwriter Maria Maita-Keppeler found an expressive avenue out of her childhood shyness through music. The Portland-based songwriter tapped into that grand yet intimate reverence for MAITA’s sophomore album, from the churning twinkle of “Pastel Concrete” to the riotous give-and-take of “Honey, Have I Lost It All?”. In those moments of disconnect, of confusion, of isolation, I Just Want To Be Wild For You thunders ahead, forging unexpected connections along the way.