Blues-tinged Americana, aka roots music and/or indie folk, best describes the latest release from L.A.-based singer-songwriter/guitarist Max Knouse. Recorded over two days with drummer Ben Lumsaine and bassist Bailey Zick in a small space located above a Phoenix pizza place, it’s a live-to-tape (or live-to-hard drive) set overseen by producer-engineer Chris Schlarb, with minimal overdubs. The result is a laidback-yet-taut, rustic-yet-refined affair, the kind of album that finds you leaning in to listen regardless of volume.
Knouse explains the album title thusly: “[It] could be aspirational, like a name for a student of greatness. It could be something about seeing in widescreen—goats have amazing rectangular pupils. Or it could be a self-deterministic thing. Goats are pretty Satanic. I like the paradox of following someone who follows no one. There’s a lot of stuff in the songs about harnessing your own powers of evil or about perseverance while witnessing the evil around you.” (That said, I’m sure the belted goats that live near me would object to being called satanic or evil. They prefer being called what they are, cute.)
That aside, the subdued “Dubane”—penned by Knouse’s pal Michael Krassner—frames the proceedings, with acoustic guitar, drums, and a reverberating bass supporting Knouse’s sleepy drawl: “I am a good man,” he claims, before telling his partner that “it’s time to head west.” The land of milk and honey’s calling his name, essentially. “Like a Rocket Stage” maintains the laidback vibe while injecting a surrealistic edge into the lyrics. The title track is a 41-second burst of ambient eccentricity, a perfect lede for “Angel’s Share.” Written with friends Ronan Delisle and Alex Dupree, it began life as a faux countrypolitan tune but evolved into something a tad darker and bluesier; it explores, via the story of a 19-year-old working the graveyard shift, how we sacrifice in the present in hopes of having a better tomorrow—but tomorrow never comes.
“It’s Time to Go Out Running,” meanwhile, conveys sentiments many of us share, while “Cavalrain” finds him re-evaluating Disney films in whimsical fashion. “Disney movies used to feel somewhat unrealistic to me,” he says in the press release. “Then, at some point in my life they started to look more and more just like the real world. The powers of evil in the song have advanced to the point where God’s judgement seems hilariously outdated—maybe God is watching the world go by in fast-forward.”
The Gabby Pahinui–influenced “Hawaii Duct” detours into slack-key territory, while the delicate “Silverlight” and “Goldleaf in a Silver Alert” float forth on surrealistic currents betrayed by bitter truths—as he sings in the latter, “A magic trick is not to hurt.” The closing “Mountainlight,” for its part, reverts to the shuffling blues of “Dubane” while contemplating matters of religion and faith. All in all, it’s a riveting listen.
The Old Grey Cat 