DC Maxwell is back for round two.
The New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter today announced his second album, The Singer, set for release on May 22nd.
The album is, in typical Melbourne fashion, a community-driven creation. The Singer features production by Bonnie Knight (Amyl and the Sniffers, Angie McMahon), vocal contributions by Hatchie and Georgia Maq, and piano instrumentation by Good Morning‘s Stefan Blair.
That not enough for you? How about the legendary Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who lent a “fateful feature” to Maxwell’s record.
According to a press release, Maxwell’s forthcoming album is “[r]ooted in the thesis of the written word,” acting as a “liturgy to the craft itself.”
“His contemporary alt-rock sphere is the distillation of poetry, lyricism and the conviction of performance. What is the point of singing and dancing while the world burns? For DC Maxwell, it’s a salve,” the description adds.
New single “Funeral Suit”, out today, finds Maxwell discarding his former tongue-in-cheek troubadour persona in favour of something more personal and vulnerable. “I wanted to write music that gives people in dark places hope,” as he explains.
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Listen to the sweetly sincere track, which will feature on The Singer alongside recent singles “Jesus’ Son” and “Golden Light”, below.
“This song is an attempt to find reasons to live when the grim spectre of death is hanging over your head. I was thinking a lot about what there is to cling to in life when the mind gets fixated on death,” he says of his new single. “I thought that one of the rocks in the storm was the closeness and physical presence of someone that means something to you.
“But I didn’t want to write a soppy love song. I wanted to write something that showed that love is not light and fluffy, but can be a fierce weapon against depression and nihilism in a chaotic world. This is a love song about choosing to turn away from the darkness and to try and fuck around and find out what is out there that can bring you joy.”
The Singer follows Maxwell’s well-received debut album, Lone Rider, which earned him a Taite nomination for Best Independent Debut. Lone Rider also made it into our Best New Zealand Albums of 2023 countdown.
Last year saw him impress as one of the standout performers at Rolling Stone House at SXSW Sydney, a huge house party which took over the Lord Gladstone Hotel on Thursday, October 16th.
Playing alongside headliner DZ Deathrays and fellow support acts like Jamaica Moana and Charlie Pittman, Maxwell showed why his charismatic live persona has helped him secure previous support slots for Future Islands and Alex Cameron.
Looking ahead, Maxwell’s next show is set for The Tote Upstairs in Melbourne on Saturday, February 28th (ticket information here).
DC Maxwell’s “Funeral Suit” is out now. The Singer is out May 22nd (pre-save/pre-add here).
