Ears Wide Open: Mr. Max

Kevin Bronson on February 21st, 2018

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Mr. Max is the appellation for the solo music of Max Cohen, formerly the guitarist of the UCLA-bred party bunch Atomic Walrus. In embarking on making a solo album, Cohen drew creative inspiration from the likes of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, seeking to self-produce as much of the music as possible and doing it all — playing guitar, bass, programming drums and self-recording — in his bedroom. Mr. Max’s milieu figures to be as wide-ranging as his influences. While “Brunchin’ Yuppies,” Cohen’s first single under his new moniker, revealed his love for riffy, garden-variety funk lite, Mr. Max’s second single “Long Drive Home” is another voyage entirely. A dreamy, world-weary rumination, “Long Drive Home” is for the bittersweet moments when you take inventory and still find yourself overstocked on self-doubt. The song is the second single from Cohen’s forthcoming album “Intimacy vs. Isolation,” a collection, the songwriter says, that explores the struggle of twentysomethings to achieve intimacy with others and balance in the world around them. We’ve been behind the wheel on this drive.

||| Stream: “Long Drive Home”