Loaded with grandeur and scale, (((S))) brings ‘Maverick’ to life with a flourishing combination of modern rock imbibed with visions of dystopia and the future. This anonymous one man project continue to deliver deliciously experimental combinations of modern rock with touches of electronica and more. Maverick feels like a soul-searching record, loaded with tracks that are far deeper and more sonically opulent than before. It’s a power pop record, perhaps best categorised there but not for a moment only restricting itself to any particular genre or style.
Opening with ‘Big Black Beautiful Bird’, you’re hurled into a sonic odyssey that’s relentless in its scale and epic in its stature. As far as opening tracks to albums go, you’d be hard pressed to find one more magnificent and arresting than this. With a lovely falsetto harmony, an ominous and dark opening, and powerful choruses to match, you find yourself curious for more from the word go. When ‘Nighttrain to Nowhere’ hits, the dark background vocals alongside a thumping and pulsating percussive background moves forward with such verve and fury that you’re constantly moving alongside it. Then, on the ‘Ballet Of The Wolves’, the rather slowed down tempo and more melancholic guitar work has you pulling your heartstrings. But it’s perhaps on tracks nine and ten that Maverick really left me most impressed. The rather confounding arrangement of ‘Dreams Die, But You Don’t’ leaves you so perplexed yet intrigued that you find yourself constantly pressing replay. And finally, on ‘Touch My Heart – Touch My Soul’, you get to see a more light-hearted single despite the overarching dark energy that (((S))) so readily espouses.
Definitely, far from an album for the average listener, ‘Maverick’ still finds itself as an immersive powerful dark pop pop record for a curious mind.