Max's Music Mondays with Ava Levy and Cisco Swank
ok you'll never believe it but these two songs rock sm, please enjoy!!!
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays. My ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you love them too. If you do, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) Your paid subscriptions go towards supporting the artists you read about here too!! That’s right(!!), the artists who made This Weeks Songs are getting paid!! <3
Wow. So much has happened since we last spoke. And so much of it is great!! Really I spent much of this past week immersed in so much fantastic live music. Some of my favorite shows I’ve been to in a while, getting to see multiple artists I’ve been a fan of for years IRL for the first time, and seeing other favs yet again.
I got to see amazing sets from Mauvey, Boyish, and Madeline - some unreal talents, all making special music. It felt special to have them share it in such warm and loving rooms, feeling people love them and their music. Plus I got to see Medium Build (again, six times since December if anyone is counting…) and this one cracked me open big time. I barely have the words for it even now, but felt so present and so seen in every possible way. And to share that with a room full of strangers who were all feeling the same thing?? Magic!
But also filled the week with so much more, including getting back on my running bs, where I often get the space and clarity to see Max’s Music Mondays and let all these ideas that are forming coalesce together. I’m really excited about where we’re at now - a place where I am taking it seriously (I hope you are too!) but not too serious where we can’t experiment and let things evolve again and again. Exciting things ahead.
Then managed to put some time aside to find and write about two songs. Can’t believe how good they are… but you know damn well I’m about to spend the next few paragraphs trying!!!! Read, listen, enjoy and please share the songs with someone who might dig ‘em too.
This Week’s Songs
Ava Levy - not ur clown
Every time I sit down to write one of these, I usually play back the song one more time in full. Soak it all in, jot down lyrics, etc. And come back to the page with ideas brewing on how to best share the song. This time? I’m just coming back with a big smile on my face. Remembering yet again how fun this song is. Like a paper fortune teller folding and unfolding revealing infinite new sides of itself. It’s so sick, you’re gonna love this.
From the early moments, we hear this tender acoustic guitar. Played live, hearing the fingers as they move from fret to fret. One move sounds like a gasp inward, pulling me further into the song, the room warm around us. Ava Levy’s voice matches the moment. Softly moving in exciting ways, dancing through the melody with a gorgeous tone and a smirk of sadness on their face. The way they hit “clawed ur way out” is wild, Levy’s voice seeming to disappear and reappear simultaneously, at will. The band comes through shortly thereafter, things are heating up and they gotta be a part of it too. Crossing 0:40 with another guitar, gentle deep bass, shimmering cymbals, that tambourine for a snare, and a synth buzzing with a charming dial-up internet sound.
Another sick verse, simple, powerful. Levy’s breath pushing every last ounce of feeling out of these words. Unraveled and worn / Split me in to what i’m for a dagger of a lyric that shatters the song just enough to let this gnarly synth, made of warped vocals, sneak its way in. There at 1:08, feeling synthetic and alive at the same time. Moving in ways a human couldn’t but full of emotion nevertheless. The perfect tie over into another sick lyric, revealing the what i’m for to be Naked and hungry on the floor. Folks!! I love it!!! You can feel that hard floor beneath you now, the pain that puts you there and won’t let you up. It hurts, yet the song carries us on. A sunny moment. Levy returns to prove why it feels warm. These days are behind us, they come alive in the repetition of Anymore, more confident and proud with each one. Riding that nasty chord progression that my body is called to sway to.
The moment fades, moving into this really incredible piano solo. Quick, smooth, it feels like the warmth of a loving home. Some light mallets give it just a little depth and shine as it moves. Another verse arrives, that brushing snare drenched in distortion giving it a really satisfying texture. Another new face for the song. The verse is quick, but the words just as honest, the imagery just as powerful. It’s an exciting moment here at 2:37, the bass drops out and you can feel the whole thing thinning out with wind building and coming our way, more change ahead. When the bass comes back, the drums cutting through the noise, the song feels… humid? Warm and hot and thick. The storm brewing. Levy drops the titular lyric, this strength in their growth palpable. Again, the Anymore’s hit harder with every repetition, now a little bit of fuzz on their voice giving it another new edge. And you might be thinking, ok turned out to be a gentle storm. Well don’t put the umbrellas away too quick, Levy’s got another trick up their sleeve and boy oh boy is it a good one. 3:30 hits and so does the downpour. New sounds and instruments flood the scene. An undeniable groove has me rocking out gently side to side, the whole thing knocking so hard. The vocals chopped and thrown around, it’s beautiful chaos and a powerful end to a great song.
What a debut are you kidding??? Can’t wait for more.
Follow Ava Levy on IG / Spotify
Cisco Swank - All The Same
Where do you even start with this one. Those drums? Full of pop and warmth, soft around the edges but an unmistakable punchiness. The bass line? Guiding the song forward, dancing in the margins. Cisco Swank’s vocals? Thoughtful and reflective as he considers the end of a relationship, rolling through exciting chord changes. Having no trouble with tone at any point in the melody. Well, wherever you start it’s as good a choice as any, because this song is full of good shit. Beautiful, creative, and groovy as can be.
Swank gets straight to it with this first verse. The aforementioned drums, bass, and vocals all putting their best foot forward. The vocal mixing is truly wild. We’re met with two vocals each slightly to the side, I don’t know how to properly say this ‘musically’ but sounds like the left vocal is singing from a little above the right. The whole thing with this slightly off-kilter feel, just uneven, a little lean. But feels so right. The slight separation leaves just enough space for a falsetto to rise right up between the two there at 0:13, like a balloon, slowly floating higher and higher in frame as the melody takes a new turn. That fuzzy tape delay wipes the slate clean and we get back to a more stable scene. Swank takes one last moment to think through some what-if’s before, out of nowhere, THOSE KEYS!!!! Moving so elegantly with Swank on the melody. It lands with a smile, with acceptance, the strength Swank needs to move on.
And move on we do. Some breezy guitars shimmering under Swank’s ooo’s. It’s such a departure from the verse, feels like the song has really bloomed, the petals opening up and this sunny chorus exploding out. The one lyric lands, with the piano offering a little flair in response. The whole thing feeling so dreamy here. We get a second run through the ooo’s, this melody so lovely, the bass having some fun too. Before we fall back to verse two.
But with the warmth of his chorus still fresh in his mind, Swank returns with a bit more confidence, a bit more power, opening things up here. Pushing his vocals further, that emotion really coming out now. I love his delivery, letting the phrases extend out as they need, breaking the mold of a ‘typical’ lyric. Doing so gives Swank space to play - leaving in lyrics that give it more life, more voice, more (I assume) of a peak at how he has had these conversations. Things like Make it make sense or tossing that Bro in there. Things that would fall to the wayside, should he be determined to fit the lyric in a more ‘traditional’ shape. But little things that give the song so much more character. It really rules. As his storytelling continues, even if he’s found more acceptance, there’s still a part of him that’s curious, the verse ending with a really charming:
I high-kеy should've know that
It was too good to be true, I still think of you
It bumps us back to the chorus. And I’m feeling the summer wash over me again. Such a stunning moment. We move forward, into this mellow bridge. A fuzzy synth holding things steady, while Swank nails another duet with those sick keys. After a few shared phrases, both of them start to flex - the pianist ripping a beautiful jazz solo, another delight, and maybe a hint to where Swank has picked up the comfort to let his vocals explore and land in new ways. Meanwhile, Swank steps in with some perfect harmonies to let the vocals shine just as much. Everyone just jams together, perfectly in sync until the song cuts us off. I’m sad it’s over but honestly glad they stopped here, I could’ve stayed in this jam for hours, and then I never would’ve finished writing.
Follow Cisco Swank on IG / Spotify
Incredible right??? Well thanks to you generous paid subscribers, these two are getting some cash too. <3 I’m proud as hell to say it!!!
Can’t wait to see you next week, more new music, and maybe even a special performance for you paid subscribers too… things are looking up and up over here and so grateful to have you along for the journey too.
What have you been listening to?? Send some stuff my way!
Until then, have a great week.
Max