A smoother Cobain? A gruff Bono? In his new Album Aurora, New York based Maxwell Demon efficiently traverses multiple vocal and musical landscapes in a lazy, laidback style which really he has so wonderfully made his own. The album opens with a mellow yet slightly upbeat Cross and then moves on to the really mellow track with a very addictive rhythm called Laidback followed by a slightly peppy Ballroom which then gives way to a delightful Interlude. After this the album adopts a borderline psychedelic groove with Deep Mass and Castles before it moves on to the wonderfully melodious, poetic and my favourite track on this album called Mirrorhouse. It finishes with Marilyn, which is very hazy, very doped out and slightly angry. Marilyn leads well into the first track Cross, thus giving a sort of cyclic mood to proceedings, somewhat reminiscent of the ways of Greek theatre. Whether the titular reference is astronomical, mythological or one of popular fiction, is a question only Herr Maxwell can answer, but for me this little gem of an album is that bright light for Maxwell which should hopefully propel him to the greater things that he seems to be so capable of. Without further ado, here are my top picks from the album:
If you like what you hear, the whole album can be streamed at soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/#maxwelldemon/sets/aurora.
Please support his work, share it and spread the word!
Karan Khurana