An Honest And Touching New Album from Maxwell Knowles
The latest release from Maxwell Knowles is most certainly a pretty personal one that comes from a space within him that feels vulnerable but also needed to come out.
The Dreaming in the Dark album portrays a certain level of heartbreak, if you will. It's about loss and finding a light within that loss to a certain extent. Or, at least that's how I took a lot of the record.
The opening track on the record, "A Message In A Bottle", really is exactly that. It is a message to others but also to himself, so that you're getting a kind of preface to what the record is about and where he's coming from emotionally.
As the record unfolds, you can dive into that emotion with him, and he doesn't hold back a lot, which I think is one of the most important aspects about the whole release.
Lyrically, the record pulls you in and takes you into his own experience, loss, heartbreak, light, pain, struggle, and more. There is a slew of emotions that this record encompasses, and I feel like it's so brave for Maxwell to be able to let all that inner thought come spilling out for everyone to soak in like that.
Again, this was a vulnerable record, but in that vulnerability, you have connectivity, relatability, and a certain sense of Integrity that you end up attaching yourself to.
Musically, the record is very vast and has dreamlike atmospheres along with contemporary pop, heavier-handed tracks that are a little bit more edgy but still in that pop-coated arena and all very beautifully constructed so that you have songs that unfold, breathe, and tell their stories but do so in ways that can be catchy and memorable.
This is the type of album you listen to from start to finish. That's what it was meant for. This is not a record where you check out a few tracks because then you're not getting the full story, and you'll also miss out on a lot of the elements and attributes that the record has to offer.
There are more than a few surprises around the corners here, and they're all very well thought out in terms of arrangement, pop drive, and mood that each track provides.
Songs like "Letters" give you a perfect example of how he's able to incorporate that emotional drive and honesty through his lyrics but also provide music that has a spacious and expansive backbone for you to fall into.
Synth pads that float through the ethers of the songs give them depth. Contemporary style beats give them that pop underbelly. The vocal approach has a passion and heart to it, and it's not just because of the lyrics. It's because of how they are actually performed.
This entire record has songs that interconnect with each other and layers of texture that flow in and out as the whole thing unfolds, which is quite intense at times but also beautiful.
This is like a diary. You're getting these sorts of chapters in Maxwell's life, and it feels like reading a book or watching a short film.
This is also why you want to listen to the album as a whole. You don't want to read a book and just skip a chapter. You want to read every chapter in that book so you understand what's going on, and that is kind of what this album is like.
The songs musically are engulfing and provide gorgeous soundscapes that are filled with both natural and digital instrumentation, and the tonality of all of that comes together with a wonderful aesthetic.
I feel like there was definitely a lot of attention to detail paid during the creation of this record, both musically and lyrically so that Maxwell could really express himself properly and also give off the tone and mood to go along with those lyrics, the way it was intended.
Personally, I feel like he did an excellent job of executing all of these elements and putting them into an impactful record that you can feel something from.
Again, this is a very vulnerable album for Maxwell, but for whoever's listening, you may just relate to it more than you think.
The beauty of a record like this is that we all go through certain kinds of struggles and loss in our lives, but don't all know how to articulate those thoughts or emotions into words, let alone words in music, so it does something for us.
They can let us feel like we're not alone, that is one of the most powerful things I've come across.
This was a gorgeous and very well-woven album, and I suggest putting on headphones to listen to this one all the way through.
It will affect you.
