bandspotting

John Zainea & the Mania

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

The Scarlet Ibis

John Zainea and the Mania entered the game in May 2010 with the simultaneous release of two albums—Summer of Ont-Thousand Seeds and The Bird is a Song. The Maina’s music ranges from sweet almost-pop songs to complex layered compositions reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens’ orchestrations. Though the songs range in style and character, the strength of John Zainea’s original melodies carries throughout both albums. Over the course of three years, John Zainea wrote, arranged and recorded these twenty-one tracks on breaks from his job teaching high school English. The Mania is a collaborative effort encompassing friends, family and former students pulled together by the power of John Zainea’s music and the promise of a free Maina sticker in the future.