Kevin Bronson on January 8th, 2019

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On his 2017 album “Libra-Scorpio Cusp,” L.A. rocker Maxim Ludwig came off as a charismatic, almost-contrite Lothario. Through variations on ’80s-styled classic rock, he played the party animal with a conscience, though not a strong enough one to stand in the way of a good time. This was not an act.

“Over the last 10 years, I became a serious alcoholic and drug addict,” he says now. “I had a nervous breakdown because of all the drugs a few years back, but that didn’t stop me. I kept using.”

“Rich Man’s World,” one of two new singles he leaked to Soundcloud last week, confesses that bluntly. “When I get money / I throw it in my nose,” Ludwig begins, allowing as how his own insecurity (“It seems like the fame is / wasted on the famous”) and lack of self-control kept him in a spiral. Consider it a cautionary tale.

“‘Rich Man’s World’ is a love song for cocaine,” he says. “I wrote it while I was slowly killing myself and only see now what a cry for help the lyrics were. I thought I could hide the self-hatred within a pop song. And now I think that’s what makes it frightening.”

The new song comes along with “American Zen,” a song that makes you imagine Robert Palmer as a political commentator. In sum, the new singles don’t alter the style that’s made Ludwig a magnetic performer, just the substance.

“I’m clean and sober and plan on staying that way,” he says. “I’m rediscovering myself again. I don’t want to paint the songs any which way before you listen, but it’s pretty obvious what the songs are about as soon as you hear them. I have lots stories now. And I’m ready to tell them honestly.”

||| Stream: “Rich Man’s World” and “American Zen”

||| Live: Maxim Ludwig plays the Troubadour on Thursday night, along with Superet, Zander Schloss and Lael Neale. Tickets.

||| Previously: “Make It Hurt,” “Big White Wall,” “No One Has to Know”