Photo Credit: Yasmin Cowan
Following a captivating residency at London’s The Slaughtered Lamb earlier this year, Max Jury releases ‘Peace Of Mind’, the third taste from his forthcoming studio album Avenues – out March 31st.
A tripped-out blast of indie folk-rock, ‘Peace Of Mind’ was co-written with London Grammar’s Dan Rothman in his London studio. “‘Peace of Mind’ is a song about trying to keep yourself together and find some sanity in an increasingly crazy world,” Max said of the track. “It’s about being overwhelmed by everything that has been unfolding and how disconnected and individualistic our society has become.”
Directed by Lukas Houben and filmed in downtown LA, the cleverly tongue-in-cheek video for ‘Peace Of Mind’ sees Max trapped in the receiver of a desert phone booth. “I wanted to do a performance video with ‘Peace Of Mind,’” Max said of the video. “Something that helped push the energy and sentiment of the song across, but also fun and didn’t take itself too seriously. In some ways, ‘Peace Of Mind’ is about the barriers technology puts between us, so I thought it was a clever idea!” Watch the video HERE.
In the first year of the pandemic, Max bunkered down in North Carolina and began work on Avenues. He worked out of a home studio run by an old musician friend, Stacy Harden. True to form, Max started traveling once more. Destination… once again, London. Connecting with another new collaborator, Dan Rothman of London Grammar – they met after sharing mutual appreciation on Instagram – he realized he had even more songs ready to be fleshed out. Even more, journeys to share. Working too, with Jimmy Hogarth, the Grammy-winning, London and Dorset-based writer/producer (Amy Winehouse, Suzanne Vega, Paolo Nutini), Max sought to colour the vision he and Harden had sketched in North Carolina.
“Avenues is the album I’ve always wanted to make.” Max explains. “It’s the closest I’ve come to being my true self as an artist, and it re-inspired me to keep pursuing this whole music thing. It’s about self-reflection and discovery, it’s about rebirth, and it’s about not giving up on a dream. But most importantly it’s about being present for the journey.”
Max Jury is a footloose songwriter, a troubadour in the classic sense. Someone who’s always followed the music. Ahead of his self-titled 2016 debut Max Jury, Max set off for London, which marked the start of his unique musical journey. The debut album went on to receive great critical acclaim, with the first single ‘Numb’ connecting with new fans alike across the UK, France and America, garnering more than 40 million global streams to date.
For his second album, 2019’s Modern World, Max decamped to Los Angeles to work with award-winning producer, Robin Hannibal (Kendrick Lamar, Little Dragon). However, the Covid 19 pandemic descended soon after the album’s release, bringing the campaign to a halt before it had a chance to get started.
Settle down and lean into the yearning, restless, reassuring and wholly wonderful sounds of the first tastes of his third album, from a musician who’s still roaming far by digging deep. It just might be the best trip you take this year.