Max's Music Mondays with redbrd & Shormey 🎶
I'M BACK (from a one week break because i was too tired after bonnaroo) with two special tunes <3
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. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3
Hey all! I am still coming back to life after what was a perfect week of music at Bonnaroo. But we’re back in full force with something very special to celebrate. WE JUST HIT 800 LIKES ON THE SPOTIFY PLAYLIST!!!!!
Listen, I know that isn’t that many in the grand scheme of things. But it means so much to me. In LA, the El Ray theater is 800 cap and now I’m picturing me on stage typing up this newsletter and hitting play on a song in a sold out room of all my favorite people (you). There is something so sacred about seeing the little MMM playlist cover coming up on an artist’s ‘Discovered On’ section of their spotify page. And every time someone likes, listens, shares the playlist it genuinely goes a long way. So grateful to all y’all for listening. IF ONE OF YOU MF’ERS UNLIKES THE PLAYLIST…. I will probably just laugh at making such a stink over a temporary accomplishment and we’ll run it back again next week.
Anyways, I am really excited to share these two songs. And have been for a couple weeks. I hope you enjoy them and I’ll see you again later this week <3
Every song added here!! Please like the playlist if you haven’t already! We’re mere moments from 800 likes and I’m gonna lose my shit when that happens.
redbrd - Mountains
Now, let me just get out in front and say this. I don’t often take on instrumental songs on this newsletter. Quite frankly, it’s daunting. I write quite a bit here each week, and I do love to talk about voices and songwriting etc. etc. so the idea of not having that as something to turn to does frighten me. But then, listen to this song and try not to share it. Even if it pushes me outside my comfort zone, it makes me so deeply excited, I knew I had to give it a go. There’s plenty to say about it.
I’ve mentioned redbrd a little here already, but this is his latest single and I am so thrilled to formally feature it on MMM! Opening with these strings plucked so gently and so fast they feel like they’re vibrating. Slowly we hear more light bulbs turn on, more instruments appearing in the track. On the left, on the right, that bass dead center. The sounds are mystifying, beautiful, serene. I really find this opening moment meditative. But also deeply in awe at how beautiful it all feels. It’s almost overwhelming, so many of these noises mixing together to create a wave of gorgeous sound. It’s amorphous but has a clear direction, quiet but full of plenty of things to say.
As we cross the 0:50 mark, the drums start rolling in. Along with the bass, giving the song a more traditional jazz structure. The two grooving together before 1:20 brings that synth sting, with it bringing this gorgeous guitar, some keys hidden underneath too in tiny moments. We repeat the progression slowly adding more and more. Everyone here is killing it too - a full band of talented musicians. You’d hardly expect an arrangement this thorough, this complex would be just redbrd’s second single, but here we are. Just as I settle into this groove and think I have time to shoot the shit with you here, he rips the rug out, sending us forward.
We lean into the guitar, wonkier than ever it’s plucks coming out of nowhere, growing steadily. It’s weird and fun and just a perfect moment of something unique to give the track a lot of energy. We drop right back into that last moment, now more familiar. The band jamming in the jazz club, kindly plucked guitar still rolling in the spotlight. But this time, he cedes some of that spotlight to a collection of beautiful sounds. There’s that bright chord again, like a gentle firework. This time it feels more like guitar, shining beneath some choice effects. The drums take a new approach to the groove, a new path to get us to the same place. Seeming to move just out of the way so the piano can get some love too. A couple last chords from this sparkling guitar feel so magical and mystical.
We all breath while the bass goes (tastefully) wild. A little rain outside, or just the sound of the outdoors, ride with the bassist before the band circles around and joins back in. First the drums, the nylon guitar, and before you know it, it falls into this siiiiick little groove at 3:30. The kind of moment I need to see live, the kind of moment I know could jam and extend out for a long time and I’d savor every second. Heavy but clean, mesmerizing. But here, it’s over before you know it, back again to our familiar motif.
This time I’m noticing the drums even more, finding the perfect tone from every piece of the kit. There are some kind of string instrument rattling around the edges. Full of texture and reverb, reminiscent of this song’s earlier scenes. The whole band at full force, the moment makes me feel like I’m floating, but the band is still tight as ever. The drums push harder and harder, great fills, extra hits, building the energy before the band steps aside. The gusts of sound blowing across the track, coming and going, before fading entirely.
HAHA you thought the song was over??? oh man redbrd has a surprise for us, Spending the last 40 seconds in this brand new groove. This massive organ settling jazzy chords over more perfect drums. A delightful reveal and end to an incredible song. redbrd’s debut EP is out now!!! Please go check it out, lots to love.
Follow redbrd on Instagram // on Spotify
Shormey - Trust
Big lush chords envelop us immediately. A voice in the distance seems to swirl in the eye of the storm. A dreamy storm. And when it dissipates, we fall into the groove of all grooves.
The bass is ridiculous, both in tone and in the way it lays the foundation for this insane funk. The drums are the other backbone. A simple pattern with the kick and the snare, this shaker doing some heavy lifting. Giving the song a really bright and tactile texture. Makes you wanna dance. A hi-hat here, a clap with some wet reverb there, it’s a devilishly good arrangement. This piano sound is wild too, big and bold even in its small appearances. A couple notes every few bars to keep it all grounded. A perfect band coalescing around Shormey, who SHINES. These vocals are sick - silky smooth, dripping like honey. Little gems like the sound effect washing over us like a plane overhead. It’s a hot summer haze, and I love the way we slide through this whole section. The delivery is so fun - these short phrases kicking off on the front end, with longer phrases catching us on the way down.
The transition to the chorus happens so naturally. This delightful ‘Trust You’ section where the lyrics work beautifully. Both as their own lyric as written but also tying the lines together, the end working just as well as the beginning of the next phrase. Shormey delivers them in this vintage, almost nostalgic me way, that feels so girl-group background vocals with such a classic R&B air about it. It’s fun to hear it here in this more contemporary steve-lacy-esque groove. Musically it stays consistent - if it ain’t broke why fix it - but giving more shine to the keys, raining down with beauty. Cannot say enough about how perfect every single tone is. Just a perfect bouquet of flowers here.
The second verse ditches the bass in a real ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ way. It’s presence even more noticeable now. But keeps me feeling light and easy, anticipating its bound-to-be-groovy return. And there it is. Whew. Just soaking this all in, the vibe is gorgeous, the groove relentless, and more little perfect additions like that see-sawing synth subtly swaying after Shormey says “you don’t understand there’s a wrong time to speak”. I read it in two ways - this other person not listening and proving Shormey’s point, feeling the need to respond even when they clearly are being asked, told, not to. Or, it’s just Shormey shaking their head. All of us, shaking our head, in the biggest SMH way possible at the sorry state of this other person. Love it when the music plays with the writing like that. Giving the moment so much more impact.
And all the writing is great. I mentioned a bit earlier, but the structure is fun. Shormey putting phrases together, mixing lengths and pacing, draping single words across the same space a whole sentence will fit shortly thereafter. And the content is great too. Trying so hard to make this relationship better, make it possible, and realizing how that is not a one person job, needing this other person to step up too. Maybe this is the acceptance that they can’t step up, maybe this is the final plea. But either way, the writing is clear, sweet, and vulnerable.
As we finish the second verse, in this pre-chorusy section, a little background vocal lands a fun run to punctuate the moment. This other person left on their knees, the final chorus feels so much more powerful. Really strutting my stuff to this one. The bass really goes crazy, the powerful core of the outro, and we dance off into the end of the song. What a ride. Sick voice, sick sound, can’t wait for more from Shormey.
Follow Shormey on Instagram // on Spotify
The end of the month is here already??? I’ll be back later this week for the June Recap/Roocap. Spoiler alert, it really is Brat Summer….. my brain is changed.
Hope wherever you are, you’re staying cool and enjoying good music, ofc!!!
Hugs,
Max