An album release from Max Weinman delivers a wonderfully contemporary and classic pop-oriented soundscape with a set of tracks that delve into personal attributes and showcase this character that you end up getting attached to almost right from the start.
The self-titled album might be self-titled simply because these songs serve almost like chapters in the artist's life. As the record unfolds, you get more and more in-depth into his life, and throughout it all, you have beautifully and emotionally driven songs that certainly leave a mark.
As I listened through to this record, there are elements of classics like Elton John or Billy Joel, but there are other layers to this record, along with other influences that come into play strewn throughout its course.
The album opens up with a song called Julia.
This track, to me, is a perfect opener because it introduces you into his world and his approach to songwriting, which comes through warm and welcoming and so many different ways.
He can get very detailed or descriptive with his lyrics, so you can paint pictures as songs unfold, and this is something that helps you connect with the songs and get attached to that character I mentioned earlier.
These are all piano-based tracks, but a lot of them have full band attributes as well, including drums, guitars, bass, and more.
This is a very full-bodied record, but what grabs you is how he does it hold back in terms of what he's singing about.
This is a record built with few walls built around it because he's telling stories.
This gives the record a certain kind of freedom in a way, and that sense of freedom lets you get engulfed in the release quickly and easily.
The piano work is always amazing, and you do have those elements of classic rock and pop embedded in the veins of the record, but you also have power ballads and cinematic feeling backbones that let certain songs seem like they would be perfect in the scene of a film or a TV show.
Of course, a lot of that comes back to how the songs are performed and their emotional lusciousness.
That classic aesthetic is almost always there. This record gave me bouts of nostalgia as I am a big fan of artists like Billy Joel. He's able to throw in elements like saxophone and just that right hint of reverb effect on certain vocal tracks to give the effect and aesthetic of the influences that he grew up loving.
Songs like "The Letter" hit me in a particular way, and this is an example of a song that's got a saxophone in there and gives off this very personal and one-on-one approach that, again, helps you connect with the songs and with his personality.
These are songs that all mean something to him. They are stories, and a lot are told from personal perspectives, but you can relate to some of them. There are certain lines of tracks that you connect with more than others, and you may end up holding on to those.
No matter what, this is an album you listen to from beginning to end.
Listening to the first few tracks will give you an idea of what you might expect, but it doesn't give you the range or spectrum of what the album has to offer as a whole.
There are a lot of layers and plenty of depth going on.
Songs like "You've Only Just Begun" hit me hard, and it's because I connected with the sentiment of the song. The performance is really beautifully done throughout the whole record.
There's something about listening to this album that, you know, Max would be outstanding to see in a live performance setting.
It's got this fluctuation of energy that comes and goes, and at times, it gives you the feel and vibe of a live performance itself.
If you can capture that kind of energy and aesthetic on record, then seeing it live must be awesome.
I absolutely love hearing an artist on record and knowing that I want to go see it performed.
It's not something that happens often, so when it comes around, it's pretty refreshing, honestly.
This is an experience. This record is a glimpse into the life of Max Weinman. He lets his walls down and gives you tons of inner thought that comes spilling out for all to soak in.
This is what real art is all about. Letting out emotion and thought and giving listeners something that they can grab onto.
You pay attention to the stories. You pay attention to the descriptions in the details of the lyrics.
It's all quite beautifully done, and it's an incredibly well-woven record all the way through, so if you do listen to this, then again, listen to it in full.
This was indeed a full chapter in his life, and to get an understanding of where he's coming from, listening to the album from start to finish is the only way to go.
Commentaires