As the age-old question goes, “Why are there so many songs about love and heartbreak but only one song about Stacy’s mom having it going on?” With their new LP both cleverly and matter-of-factly titled Wifey Material, Brooklyn power-pop outfit Wifey opted not to tread on such holy ground within the canon of radio pop-punk, but rather carried over Fountains of Wayne’s earworm choruses and first-thought-only-thought approach to these 14 songs’ subject matters.
Case in point, the second single to be shared from the record is, like “Stacy’s Mom,” a tortured-kid’s-POV narrative about the marching band imploding as soon as the object of the entire woodwind section’s affection drops out of the band. Also like “Stacy’s Mom,” good luck getting that chorus out of your head 22 years later. “Like all the best songs, ‘Mary Ann Leaves the Band’ was written in about 10 minutes and never edited,” shares band leader Teddy Grey. “With a track like this, it’s essential that you don’t allow yourself too much time to think, or else you’ll come to your senses. I think that there’s a serious drought of rock bands writing stupid, catchy, in-your-face pop songs, and Wifey is more than happy to fill that hole. If modern songwriters would stop trying to write their ‘Desolation Row’ and aimed for ‘Stacy’s Mom’ instead, I think we’d all be a lot happier. Our eardrums would be, at least.”
Check out the single below.
