Maverick describes his newest as an “abstract take on contemporary soul.” While I wouldn’t consider it outright abstract, it’s indeed a disorienting angle to take as he situates the vocals within a filtered haze that feels significantly distant from the track’s core. “I Know” still manages to be an accessible piece of work due to its driving electronics, though, a notion that seems to be integrating itself into the fabric of popular music right now.
PC Music’s infiltration of the pop sphere immediately comes to mind. The collective has taken a sound that was inaccessible to mainstream audiences in 2013 and is now mentioned in the same breath as Rihanna and Charli XCX. I’ve always considered this transition to be fascinating, but a friend of mine remarked that pop fans aren’t suddenly into tastemaker music. Rather, the tastemaker sound of past Pitchfork adoration is simply better aligned with the mood-heavy, electronic sounds that swathes of people now crave.
I, for one, am thrilled at the prospect of more listeners craving the music that’s been bubbling in tastemaker circles for years; not only for selfish reasons to hear more exciting music while out and about, but for the exposure of artists like Maverick who are toying with preconceived notions of how to present a style within the framework of a track that anyone could throw into their Spotify playlist and enjoy. Exciting times are upon us.
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