R&B singer Maxwell is preparing an album inspired by the xx and Fleet Foxes, he told Billboard this week. The neo-soul icon is hoping for a "hybrid" feel on his next record, the second in a proposed trilogy.
Before we go any further, we need to talk about upper- and lower-case letters. They are, we have discovered, essential to appreciating Maxwell's oeuvre. Let's begin with his most recent album, Black Summers' Night, which reached No 1 in the US when it was released last year. Maxwell is now working on a "sequel", a record called Black Summers' Night. Do you notice the difference? Good. Finally, he will release part three - Black Summers' Night - and our subeditor's long nightmare will come to an end.
"There's a Coachella festival guy in me that loves all the indie rock stuff," Maxwell told Billboard. The R&B star is about to head out on tour with singer Jill Scott, but has already finished most of Black Summers' Night (that's the second one), with only "some overdubs" left. The new LP is "a hybrid of music", he said, with "a little bit of a rock element". And he doesn't mean the Rolling Stones - the influences Maxwell cites are the xx, Temper Trap, Fleet Foxes and Animal Collective. "I want to put that in there in a really subtle way - sprinkle it on there but keep the soul, keep the blues. That's what I'm known for, so why go too far off the beaten path, y'know?"
Maxwell is also hoping to involve Scott. "I work with very few [guests] on my albums, but it would be great," he said.
He is even bringing recording equipment on the road. "She's just so good, you know? I just hope I can hold up, 'cos Jill is just a monster."
