All clich\u00e9s are born from a kernel of truth. And the truth is it\u2019s hard to talk about an artist like Max Gomez\u2014a roots-music singer-songwriter whose insightful lyrics and masterful way with a song belie his youthful laconic drifter persona\u2014without leaning on phrases like \u201cold soul in a young body.\u201d Sometimes the clich\u00e9 just fits.<\/p>\n
As first heard on his 2013 full-length debut Rule The World<\/i>, Gomez\u2019s songs tread the same trails as troubadours like Shawn Mullins (with whom he\u2019s co-written), John Hiatt, James McMurtry, and Jackson Browne. Where he makes his own distinct mark is in the way his sleepy-eyed delivery and gentle, approachable vibe contrast with the bite of his lyrics and muscle of his melodies.<\/p>\n
Me & Joe<\/i> is a brief set\u2014just four new songs plus one rearrangement of an old one, and less than 20 minutes of music\u2014that still manages to make a considerable impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenseless Love\u201d opens up with an airy soundscape full of warm precision and rolling melody, gradually adding elements until the track\u2014at its core an acoustic folk-pop number\u2014achieves substantial momentum and density of sound. And well it should, with the stellar band supporting Gomez for these sessions: Taras Prodaniuk (bass, Richard Thompson, Dwight Yoakam), Jim Christie (drums, Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams), Doug Pettibone (guitar, dobro, Lucinda Williams, Marianne Faithfull), Patrick Warren (keys, Shawn Mullins, Lana Del Ray), and the great Greg Leisz (pedal steel, Jackson Browne and hundreds more), with Lauren Bath and Jesse Aycock providing backing vocals and veteran producer Jim Scott (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tom Petty and many, many more) at the board.<\/p>\n
Anchoring this set is the deceptively simple, earworm-catchy and utterly sweet \u201cMake It Me,\u201d which finds Gomez offering this typically self-deprecating entreaty to the object of his affections: \u201cIf you love somebody, baby, make it me.\u201d There\u2019s a weariness at the heart of this song that amplifies its emotional resonance, like Gomez is too roadworn to put up a real fight for the relationship, but is still hoping for the best anyway.<\/p>\n
Gomez pal Jed Zimmerman penned the semi-title track \u201cJoe,\u201d a story-song told from the point of view of a hard-living character who dreams of an easier life that\u2019s always just out of reach as he continues to run away from his past. \u201cSweet Cruel World\u201d further emphasizes Gomez\u2019s unique perspective, an old-timey back-porch acoustic folk number complete with accordion, dobro and barroom piano as Gomez croons about the contradictions of life.<\/p>\n
Closing things out, the band takes a fresh, mostly acoustic run at the title track from Gomez\u2019s 2013 debut album, stripping back that album\u2019s mainstream ambitions and recasting the song as the sharp little folk-pop anthem it always was underneath.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s something inherently soothing about Gomez\u2019s easygoing approach to performance, a casual poise that underlies and contrasts cleverly with even the most self-critical lyric. Me & Joe<\/i> was cut in three days with the band playing all together in the studio most of the time, and that organic interplay and quiet confidence shows in the results, a shimmering showcase for Gomez\u2019s sturdy songs and hardscrabble wisdom. Whatever comes next, I\u2019m on board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[9096],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-45771","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-max-gomez","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45771"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45771"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}