We LOVE Brown Maple’s “Love Songs About How Much I Hate You”

Toledo-based band Brown Maple dropped their second EP, “Love Songs About How Much I Hate You” on January 7th, and we have been excitedly awaiting its release since it first came on our radar.

Coming in at 5 tracks and a little over 20 minutes, this EP feels like the soundtrack to a coming of age movie. The first song, “Nervous Wreck” jumps directly into the sullen feelings that come with heartbreak. With upbeat drums and instrumentals, Brown Maple really nicely frames the narrative of this breakup in a way that is relatable, but not a downer. The whole time, the listener is bopping along. Brown Maple also makes sure to take the opportunity to shout out some other DIY friends in this song, with the lyric “I told you I was off at 10, and you could hurry over then, and we could listen to Jail Socks or even Equipment” — which, for fans of DIY, was a nice little Easter egg.

The next song, “Marry The Girl” has a poppier feeling to it, and reminds me a ton of Equipment, one of the bands they shouted out in the previous song. This is mostly cool because, as someone who is pretty far separated from the Toledo scene, It’s super interesting to see multiple bands from the same place share some styles and attributes, and, because of that, the melody in this song felt really familiar to me, even on the first listen. It was like I already loved the band. Originally this song feels very sweet; it almost tricks the listener into thinking the song was a regular love song. With heavy power-pop influences, the happy arrangements almost successfully smooth over other parts of the song that sound much more desperate, and even a bit unhinged.

The next song, “T.T.I.F.S.” slows down a step and really focuses on the back and forth in relationships; The yearning for a love that is definitely fading; with lines like “I miss your fingertips, I miss the way you miss, all of the hints that I love you”. The narrator is reminiscing on better points of the relationship in almost a nostalgic way. The beginning of this song is mostly ambient guitar, drums, and vocals, which does a really good job of completely capturing the listeners attention, and making sure they definitely hear what the singer is saying. After that, the beat picks up for a catchy chorus and the fun energy we’ve seen previously in the EP is back. This sets listeners up for a spoken piece about how the narrator has what can only be described as a breaking point when he sees his ex at a party, and all of the emotions come rushing towards both him, and the listeners at the same moment. In a lot of ways, this song feels like 3 different songs. Between the somber intro, the spoken part, and ending with your head bopping along, “T.T.I.F.S” definitely takes you on an emotional rollercoaster.

“Khoosize Pt. 1” jumps right back into the upbeat energy we were first introduced to, but this energy is not as easily convinced to be happy and fun, and is more obviously frustrated, and angry. With lyrics like “I’m sick, sick of all your bullshit, sick of how you used me, and how you tried to hide it”, this song really encompasses the turning point in a break up, where the sadness has come to an end, and you really just want the whole thing to be over. The last 30 seconds of the song is full on screaming laid overtop a really solid riff that over all is really cathartic to listen to, and the guitar carries over into “khoosize Pt. 2” really seamlessly

“Khoosize Pt 2” is probably the most fun song on the EP. With heavy mathrock influences, and a killer hook, this song is a really great conclusion to the EP. To end the song with a sort of self reflection, where the narrator takes more accountability in sentences like “frustration is a funny thing; sometimes I say things I don’t mean, I make a fool out of myself, without the slightest of your help”. The conclusion being “I will always love you, but this is for the best” is both really satisfying and relatable.

Listening through “Love Songs About How Much I Hate You” really takes you through all of the stages of grief, from sadness, to hopefulness, to frustration, to (in our final song) acceptance; all the while maintaining a mostly fun and dancy energy. The EP has made us fast fans of Brown Maple, and we’re very excited to see where they go from here.

LISTEN HERE