Maverick Sabre — Don’t Forget to Look Up — Album Review
Soul | R&B
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
I can’t quite recall how exactly the idea came about, but something compelled me to look into the music of London-born Irish singer and songwriter Michael Stafford, after recalling his musical alias known as Maverick Sabre.
To be fair, the reason behind why was likely the fact that I veered across the upcoming release of a brand new album through Album of the Year. But whether it was that, or simply fate, I feel that my discovery of Don’t Forget to Look Up, was a highly worthy find.
Don’t Forget to Look Up is the fourth studio album from Maverick Sabre, and was teased by three tracks; all of which I decided to listen to shortly before the release of the full album.
While all three of these tracks hit the mark with their own unique set of qualities, it was “Can’t Be Wrong” that really stuck out to me as an incredibly gorgeous and soulful tune. It’s the kind of track that has me excited for the warm atmosphere of the springtime; a feeling that thankfully surrounds quite the massive chunk of this album as a whole.
With it’s soaring sounds, and themes of self-healing, wrapped into one project, Don’t Forget to Look Up feels remarkably apt for the months ahead. Furthermore, it is a near perfect project for this time of year atmospherically. The whole thing feels incredibly meditative, making it a perfect project for those walks or vibe-outs in the countryside.
Beyond this, the album’s tracks are really quite unique, in comparison to one another musically, and give listeners a full emotional spectrum from Maverick Sabre. We also get to hear a good mixture of colder and warmer sounds, which transition from one to another as the album progresses. However, these tracks pretty much all carry the heart of the soul genre at their very cores, and most of the difference lies in their moods. However, that doesn’t detract from the aforementioned uplifting feel of the album as a whole whatsoever.
That being said, a good majority of the tracks were highly enjoyable, to the point where it was fairly difficult to choose a favourite three. And while there was a very small handful of tracks which I didn’t wind up keeping, they weren’t necessarily bad, and simply didn’t wow me as much as the plethora of amazing ballads.
To be transparently statistical, a good three quarters of the album did wow me, however. And the resulting piece of all the creativity, effort, and soul, was an album that stands as a clear highlight of the year thus far. And as we go further into 2022, with the warmth slowly creeping up on us, it is fantastic to know that I have an album like Don’t Forget to Look Up by my side.
Favourite Tracks: Get By | Can’t Be Wrong | Time Away
Least Favourite Track: Like This
FAMM
