This is the second release that Tuba Skinny member Max Bien-Kahn has done in the past six months under the Max and the Martians banner, and they couldn’t be more different: Last year’s
Stay at Home Demos was made for the moment, a set of Covid-themed songs with a proudly homemade sound; while this more-produced album is in a more timeless power-pop vein.
There’s still a Covid reference or two between the lines—or maybe it’s just that any album that begins with a reference to sitting in a burning building is bound to sound timely in 2021. But these songs are all concerned with the classic pop topic of romantic loss. No idea whether Bien-Kahn was going through a split when writing these songs, but it does play like a model breakup album, and the emotional tone is in fact miserable from start to finish. That doesn’t mean it’s a depressing album, but it does mean that the hooks and grooves are there for reassurance as the singer picks up the pieces.