Maximilian spotlights the beauty of community and simplicity on ‘I Know You’
Sometimes the best art is simple. When we boil down the work of the greats, it always seems to return to that; to a Paul McCartney classic ballad, a Bob Dylan storytelling tune, or the purity of an album like Joni Mitchell’s Blue.
In the modern age, Brighton‘s Maximilian seems to get that as his latest track boils down to the simple statement that holds the whole world – “I know you.”
For those not in the know yet, allow me to climb onto the roof top and scream this again – You should be paying attention to Maximilian. In 2024, he released a flawless debut record with Surrender. I say flawless because it truly is that. It’s a ten-track run of greatness from the yearning seduction of ‘Red Wine’ to bigger building moments on tracks like ‘How Will I Ever Know’ and ‘Kill Time’.
By now, he’s surely tired of the comparison, but it had to be said again that if there is currently any one artist who truly could be Jeff Buckley reincarnated, it’s Maximilian. Not only are their vocals similar with an impressive range and the ability to switch between softness and power in a split second. But Max has Buckley’s boldness as just like on Grace, Surrender’s perfection isn’t earned through playing it safe but by following his vision to wherever it takes him.
The world never really got to see what Buckley would do next beyond a bunch of demos and a half-finished record he wasn’t happy with. But we get to see what Maximilian is doing and this next turn seems to see him led back to the baseline fact – sometimes the best art is simple.
‘I Know You’ isn’t simple in the expected way though. Sonically, it’s a rich and delicious treat with some glorious folk strings that give it so much life and warmth. It’s also not simple in the way that falls into lyrical cliches. But it’s simple in its purity, recorded completely live with the whole band thrown into one room to play together.
It’s simple and beautifully so as it all ties neatly together. For a song about community, he brings that into its bones with his recording style and the refusal to mess with it any further or add too much on top. It’s a song that been left alone and allowed to be what it is, and when its led by a voice as gorgeous as Maximilian’s and a band with this much spark to them, that’s all you need.
But perhaps the best part of the song is the video that accompanies it. Again tying into the song’s theme, Maximilian set up a still camera in a community arts space and asked some people some questions, like ‘who do you miss?’, ‘what are you grateful for?’ and so on. The results, just like his song, is pure loveliness and heartiness, shining the spotlight on the simple beauty of community, of people and of the things they think or the art they can make.
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