The Maine are back with their 8th studio album, XOXO: From Love & Anxiety in Real Time.

Having announced the album earlier this year, along with a first look into this new era with their lead single “Sticky,” The Maine continued to tease the album, releasing 3 more singles, “April 7th”, “Lips” and “Pretender” leading up to this past weekend’s release.

XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time was written and recorded in the early stages of lockdown. After their early 2020 European tour, the five rented an AirB&B and gave themselves an unlimited amount of time to create this new record. This time around, exploring a more poppy sounding side.

We have seen little snippets of this pop- side in the past couple releases, but with this album The Maine gave themselves the permission to explore and embrace this vibe deeper.

This album is full of little easter eggs for long-time fans of The Maine and the casual listener. Lead single “Sticky” has a call-back to “Black Butterflies and Deja Vu” which is a song from their 2017 album Lovely, Little Lonely. Even their song “Lips” has a lyric that references their 2007 EP The Way We Talk.

Tracks “Love in Real Time” and “Anxiety in Real Time” are meant to act as opposites of one another, as each encapsulates the two themes found within the album.

Unlike the past releases since Pioneer in 2011, The Maine released this record with the help of a record label, in conjunction with self-releasing with their label, 8123 Records. With the help of Photo Finish Records the band have been able to promote the new album in ways they haven’t before, particularly having their song “Sticky” played on the radio.

To check out the full track listing and check out the full release, you can stream XOXO: From Love and Anxiety in Real Time out now.