Shameless Tuesdays: Livre 164 | Max Rael
Max Rael's next album is called The Enemy is Us (available June 20th), and can we really blame him for thinking that? "Slightly Less Than Human", the second leading track from The Enemy is Us, is slightly inspired by controversial author Osamu Dazai, with lyrics about someone or something trying to take the form of a person. It ties in nicely with the first single "Brighter Future", which tries to find hope in a disastrous world. Yet even with so much negativity to deal with, the best one can do is push forward, something that comes off strongly in Max Rael's Shameless Tuesdays contribution.
Here's what Max has to say about this week's playlist:
Orson Welles once said, 'Every actor in his heart believes everything bad thing that's printed about him.' And whilst I'd extend that to most performers, and make it gender neutral, it's a curious thing. And maybe it's not just performers but a human trait in general, that struggle to hold on to the good things that are said about us, and to let go of the bad. Especially when awake at 4:48am, when it's the negative things that can get stuck on repeat in our heads.
Reactions to my first two Max Rael solo singles so far have, thankfully, been largely really positive. But, those that haven't connected with them, have generally cited a dislike of spoken word vocals in music. Which is of course fair enough. Horses for courses and vive la différence, etc...
However, halfway through compiling this playlist list I realised I was subconsciously gravitating towards songs I love with a strong lyrical or spoken word element. It's not strictly a 'spoken word' playlist – many tracks aren't – but they all share an emphasis on the words being the dominant force. Except for the instrumental Daniel Vincent track because I wanted to include a track from his new album (which I've been lucky to hear work in progress mixes, but alas, isn't released to Spotify yet!)
I've always been a huge lyrics fan, whereas I appreciate to some music fans they're not important at all. It's always been frustrating to me be a lyric and song writer, but lacking the vocal confidence to sing my own material. Spoken word has finally provided a way for me to express myself with my own words. Of course spoken word is not the same as rap, though I include some rap songs here. Boundaries are blurred, points of view evolve, I was never much good at staying within genre definitions. The blasphemy of Crass's, 'Reality Asylum', goes through Portishead's, 'Roads', to get to 'I Have A New Name', by Hosanna Wong.
Interwoven are projects I've been involved with. Alongside my recently release two solo singles are tracks from some of the bands I've been involved with over the years, namely: History Of Guns, Xykogen and Decommissioned Forests. Originally I thought I'd end with my guest vocal on one my beloved audio and film collaborators Howard Gardner's project Pillars Of Golden Misery... but for whatever reason I couldn't leave it there. It needed Grouper. It needed Isobell Campbell. I have no conscious reasons as to why. Hopefully I've curated an interesting and enjoyable journey for you! Many thanks to Boston Bastard Brigade and the amazing Shauna from Shameless for the opportunity!
With love,
Max
For more information on Max Rael, visit his official website, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and BlueSky.
Promotional consideration provided by Shameless Promotion PR.
