Maybe We Never Die

Anderson East

Released on 8/20/21 by Low Country Sound - Elektra
Main artists: Anderson East
Genre: Pop

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On his 2016 debut, Anderson East went full Stax—diving head-first into the horn-heavy Memphis R&B of Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding, while adding on a few country music flourishes. For his latest, Maybe We Never Die, East embraces disco and sexy '80s soul with a more modern attitude. His full-bodied, slightly husky, do-anything voice is, of course, the star, but the album also finds East in a place of real introspection. Feel-good "Drugs," complete with flute trills, is dance-floor disco à la Silk Sonic. East ponders why society can't deal with reality, instead placating with social media, religion and a million other distractions (including, of course, actual drugs): "Everybody's on drugs/ 'Cause the world behind our eyes/ Is better in disguise/ So we try to keep the feelings numb.” He's guilty of it too, finding solace in the "high" of love on "Madelyn" and its swooning '80s-style soul. "I Hate You" starts out musically and lyrically stark—"Should've stuck with alcohol but you had to have that Adderall"—before it explodes into a plaintive gospel cry: "Baby I love you more than I hate you." The moody title track finds East reaching for the stars, his voice hitting the way-up-there notes to a strings accompaniment as he gets existential. He has said the song, the creation of which began while he was floating in a sensory deprivation tank, is partly about his grandmother's struggles with Alzheimer's. "I started thinking … 'What's the point of bettering yourself, if at the end of your life, your mental hard drive starts to fail?'" But after the opening lyrics— "Heavy as a car crash/ Thought I could take the impact"—the POV gets more hopeful: There has to be more to life than just an arc that ends in fault and failure. On the evocative "Hood of My Car," which practically vibrates with reverb-heavy '80s rhythms and almost-cheesy backing vocals that would make John Mayer jealous, East paints a scene of pure, baby-making longing: telling a lover he wants to get with her right there in the parking lot, on top of the car. The Timberlake-eque "Falling" hits hard with crisp percussion, trampoline-bounce bass and funky guitar stutter. "If You Really Love Me" is an act of abundance, with horns and strings blaring, blasting and punching through the haze. The whole thing ends on the wild and wonderful "Interstellar Outer Space," East's voice unfurling and cracking in a way we've never heard before. This isn't a man worried about impressing, but in finding the meaning of life. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Maybe We Never Die

Anderson East

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Maybe We Never Die