Rural Electric’s ‘Road’ navigates Maine’s backwoods

Alan Gibson, guitarist and keyboard player for Rural Electric, readily admits that the whole pastoral, country bumpkin image of his band is something that he and fellow members Andy Veitze and Andrew Carpenter perpetuate, despite its not being the whole truth.

“Yeah, our Web site plays up the whole ‘backwoods rockers’ thing,” said Gibson, who lives on a farm in Waldo. “But I guess in my daily life it’s not as important. We don’t consciously try to be that way. We just do it for fun.”

But that’s not to say it’s not an appropriate label – they do live in the backwoods, and to be honest, they do in fact rock. On its new album, “The Road to Hell Is Paved” (recently featured on MPBN’s “In Tune By Ten”), the midcoast trio plays smart, laid-back indie rock, tempered by sweet harmonies and a jangly pop sheen. A CD release party is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Belfast, but you can buy the album now through the Web site www.ruralelectricmusic.com.

Rural Electric was formed nearly 10 years ago when Gibson and Veitze were introduced by their respective wives. Gibson, a Michigan native and a carpenter by trade, had moved to Maine to start an organic farm, while Veitze lived in Appleton, working as a park ranger. Both had a love of early ’90s alt-country and folk, such as Uncle Tupelo, Vic Chesnutt and Billy Bragg, so it was a natural fit.

“We both had more of a punk rock background, but I was also into the more folk side of things. Andy really loves Guided by Voices. It was a mix,” said Gibson, now 42. “We just started goofing around with tunes, but eventually we started really writing stuff.”

Though Gibson and Veitze have played under the Rural Electric moniker for years now, the full band only came together two years ago, when Carpenter joined in to add more guitar, and various drumming friends contributed. Two years and countless painstaking hours in Gibson’s home studio later, and out came “The Road to Hell is Paved,” the band’s second album.

“It takes us a lot of time to write and record,” said Gibson. “We don’t play out too much. We have families and jobs. It took us four years to do this album.”

The work paid off, though. Not only is the production on “The Road” impressively crisp and clear for a home studio job, but the songwriting sparkles, thanks to both Veitze and Gibson’s keen melodic sense and intelligent, sensitive lyrics that deal with everything from love to nature to politics. On the first song, “Personal Mythology,” Veitze sings, “In mine I’m Leonard Cohen / I’m Edward Abbey / I’m on the road / I’m the writer with the callouses / but is it all show?”

Whereas on the title track, he sings, “Your trucks have dominion / or so you seem to think / come spring, though, and it’s / into the mud they’ll sink.”

“Andy is a park ranger at Baxter during the summer,” said Gibson. “The title song is about clear-cutting woods, and the spreading sprawl. How the road to hell is paved.”

Unusually for most bands, outside of a few gigs slated for the winter and spring, the band seems content to continue leisurely writing and recording in its spare time. There’s no hurry. No world tours or record deals or anything. Just music making in the wilds of Maine – where there are still plenty of roads left unpaved.

To listen to Rural Electric online, visit www.myspace.com/ruralelectric. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.