After playing a few rounds of Mario Kart in our green room, indie-soul crooner Max Frost took to the Radio Milwaukee stage for a special studio session last week. Although busy from touring with Fitz and the Tantrums, and despite the fact that he wasn’t playing a local show, Max Frost decided to make a pit stop in Milwaukee and delighted us with a mostly-acoustic run-through of three songs off his debut EP Low High Low.
Max Frost is turning heads in the music world for blending electronic elements with old-fashioned grooves. So, when Frost stepped onto the stage with only an acoustic guitar in hand and a surprising absence of electronic equipment, I wondered what would ensue. Turns out, the warm rhythms and loose, funky vibe of Frost’s tunes carried over almost magically with simple percussion and restrained guitars. In the chilled-out, stripped-down arrangements, the main feature of his performance became his stunning raw vocal talent. The soulful smoothness of his voice charged the dream-like “Die Young” and the outrageously catchy “White Lies.” As the set progressed, the songs picked up more and more speed. The session culminated in the high-energy “Be Who You Want To Be,” in which Frost broke into a euphorically bouncy electric guitar riff while simultaneously clutching his acoustic guitar. The double-guitar finale prompted dropped jaws and wild cheers from the audience, a perfect way to end a standout session.
Max Frost’s contribution to the category of modern soul music stands out as being timeless yet progressive, a perfect blend of old foundations and new components. It’s the give-and-take that we crave as music listeners, and needless to say, I can’t wait to see what his musical future holds. Check out our video below of Max Frost performing “White Lies” during the session, and click here for more studio session videos!
