Max MacLaury

Admittedly, when an artist mentions Gregory Alan Isakov in the pitch, we press play with unreasonably high expectations, as Isakov is the yard stick by which we measure most of the folk songs that pass through our stack of submissions. So when we received the new tune from Max MacLaury, we were fully prepared to hate it, but this dude has completely blown us away with “Hard Times.”

Pressing play invites the listener into a fairly lengthy intro that lends the opportunity to prepare for one hell of a mesmerizing vocal performance– because when MacLaury begins his gentle, crooning serenade, it quickly consumes every bit of you, leaving you no choice but to immediately make room for this song in your list of favorites. We’re detecting a reasonably substantial Lord Huron vibe here as well, with the sweet and tender rolls of reverberating mellotron-tinged guitar chords, and the song’s delicate, churning rhythm. This is definitely one for those late-night drives to nowhere– an exquisite soundtrack to pondering one’s very existence.

And just when you think you’ve had your fill, “Hard Times” delivers some outstanding layers of backing vocals, first in small tastes on the refrain, then arriving in buckets on the middle eight. The guitar lead on the final stretch of the tune is slightly reminiscent to all of your favorite songs from Mazzy Star and we are finding it harder and harder to believe that this band is not yet a household name. And for a song that nears five minutes in length, do not be surprised if it’s over much sooner than you anticipated, as this one takes you for one of those emotional rides that you never want to end. For this reason, we’ll be spinning “Hard Times” on a loop until we have memorized every last nook and cranny.

“Hard Times” is the third single from Max MacLaury’s upcoming LP. And if you’re curious about the first two, we aim to please:

In both “Leave” and “Deciduousness,” you will find the same, rich and robust arrangements, with topnotch production. What we’ve found most interesting with MacLaury’s work is its ability to meet all sonic prerequisites with its mastering, yet it still manages not to sound overproduced or too commercially polished. Everything we’ve heard sounds exactly the way it should and will absolutely leave you wanting more. This will definitely not be the last time we feature Max MacLaury on the blog. - Up To Hear

There is something so exquisitely vast, Americana and romantic about Max MacLaury's folk chamber pop rocker "Cut From the Same Cloth". You can feel the amount of miles traveled, the wanderlust in the heart, the desert dust painted on shit kickers, and the feral passion on display in the strident western guitar strums, crazy drumming and especially MacLaury's wailing croon. His captivating vocal presence
feels so classic. Along with the musical motif that this production crafts you feel a nostalgic hard pull in his resonant big voiced croon. You think of singers like Roy Orbison, even Elvis pushing a sort of Springsteen heartland rock tone with a haunting patina of Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb. Beautiful stuff, classic forever. So classic that "Cut From the Same Cloth" will turn heads within any playlist.
-Robb Donker Curtius - American Pancake

A brand-new single release from Max MacLaury brings out a personal and honest songwriting approach that comes with this deepening Groove that you end up feeling in your bones as keyboards flow and guitar strum, you begin to get engulfed by the whole aesthetic of the track.

"Leave" comes through with a lot of personality and has a way of letting you know where the artist stands in certain situations. This single has a way of sort of pulling you in and once you're there you don't really want to leave because the atmosphere is such a cool one. This track has a sort of almost live feel to it and it's almost like the players are feeding off of each other's energies the entire time. Maybe this was recorded live on the floor. Can't be sure but either way, you can get a feel for how infectious this song is.

You can tell there was plenty of heart that went into this track and that performance vocally is spot on in terms of delivering the right melodies at the right times. It certainly feels like this track came from a real situation and maybe this was the way for him to get everything off of his chest. This is one of those songs that may have been a bit cathartic for someone to get out.

You can get a strong sense of who he is in a way and that serves the track well as it flows into its sections and parts.

This is one of those songs where everything in it is what makes it work. All the instruments provide an atmosphere when they are playing together, and it helps tell the story from his perspective.

This also makes things somewhat relatable. This release has a particular smoothness and sort of attitude to it and because of the way everything sounds together with the vocals, it really shows character.

This is something you just don't get a lot of these days so it's really nice to hear it. The guitar tones are vast on this and that kind of gives the song a little bit of a cinematic pull as well and just adds to that atmosphere even more.

Now, if you dig this track then you're likely to like his previous EP released in 2021 and it's a good idea to listen to it because it also shows different sides of that personality and songwriting styles.

But all in all, everything he seems to release is coming from someplace real and comes through as being very honest and I think that's part of the allure of what he's doing.

We don't get this kind of honesty too much unless it's more of a folk style which this of course isn't, but when you do get it, you begin to relate to it more and more.

This is definitely an artist to be looking out for in the coming months as hopefully he's going to be releasing more singles and we're hoping for more of what we're hearing here.

Definitely give this one a listen because it's well worth your time and your playlists. - Buzz Slayers

Usually I rarely hear songs that are almost 6 minutes long and when I do, I notice the running time. However , this is not the case with Max MacLaury's new release Cut From The Same Cloth .
I don't mean to suggest that the song runs through quickly because of the lack of content, on the contrary, because Cut From The Same Cloth is beautifully varied, without getting too confused or losing the atmosphere.
Inspired by old-school jazz crooners (in German comparable to potty singers ), Max MacLaury teamed up with Graham Ginsburg and Chris Stephens after several years of self-produced music and released the latest album “I Don't Wanna Talk About It” , which is something sounds edgy, but it has a lot more to offer than one might assume.
Cut From the Same Cloth begins with an energetic driving bass, accompanied by resounding guitar riffs and drums, which quickly and precisely announce the mood of the song. The bassline also stays more or less exactly the same through the whole track, which however didn't bother or became repetitive at all. Shortly after the start, the highlight comes into play: the voice of Max MacLaury . This simply has a great, scratchy strength in it, but can also make a direct 180 degree turn and be soft and emotional.
At the beginning of the song it reminded me of Palace in Country / Folk fashion, but then it turned into Johnny Cash in the chorus, immediately followed by Kings of Leon-like phases along with guitar solo. With these comparisons I don't mean to say that Max MacLaury lacks originality, I would rather point out the power of the vocals.
In the second third there is a short break without vocals before the end, which in my opinion was very well placed.
But enough first, listen to Cut From The Same Cloth for yourself and decide whether I promised too much - Picky

We’ve been seeing a trend of late with Americana releases sent our way, and that is an embracing of a more relaxed song structure, a movement away from the tight confines of the honky tonk and the hushed front porch confessions and into something a bit more loose and wide open. A lot of the times that manifests itself in a journey toward the psychedelic (best embodied by Leon III’s genre blending masterpiece Antlers in Velvet that came out earlier this year) and then there’s Max MacLaury‘s “Cut From The Same Cloth.” MacLaury doesn’t throw any curve balls at you, nor whips the song into an unexpected left turn, he just simply pops the top off of it and lets it breathe and stretch its legs a bit, to great effect. It gives the song a kind of natural cinematic openness that matches MacLaury’s vocals which sit perfectly between a classic country croon and roots rock attitude, and has us playing this one on repeat. - Postcard Elba