Can I make it through? - Maxx Silver Music

Maxx Silver Music
Title
Go to content
LOVE AND RAIN IN AN ENGLISH WINTER

The next album by Maxx Silver has the working title of "In Recovery"  from which "We Can Make It Through" is taken.  

" I wanted the songs to really communicate with the listener. its a much more personal record that the previous album Escape.  I was trying out a  type of pop song  on that album.  The next one is more  uncompromising, more electronic and sometimes quite gothic.  Its a very moody,  atmospheric collection."

On the song "We can make it through" there is a whirlwind of different song sections and the documentation of a crisis.

"It was really dark,  the atmosphere I created.  But I kept going back to it.  There was something a bit compelling about it.  It was like ironic  healing, to keep hearing it.  It actually helped me.  But everytime I heard it I would say what the  **** is that?  Did I really write that?

I wrote it during an isolated and lonely wet Winter in the UK and  originally improvised the first line "Winter is a time of death,  barest  branches bring no light " to express how much I was hating being inside.  After that I agonised over these lines,  thinking they were too depressing but, eventually decided to keep them on the basis that I wanted to break new ground and they were after all honest!

The song is mainly about how I was missing someone greatly who apparently no longer wanted  to be in my life.  I was also unemployed, which meant an additional  sense of isolation. I didn't want to go out in the constant rain. It was a prison I could not escape.  There were definitely some issues there as well that I happily have dealt with.   This was all  before CV-19!   But when that struck,  I suddenly had song lyrics about  being anxious, alone and isolated that had a whole new interpretation.  But it is about me, really but we probably have all felt those feelings in these difficult times.  

I WOULD WALK WITH YOU TIL SUMMER.

The first verse is finished with the line "Can I Make It Through?" followed by a haunting instrumental melody

"With the second verse, I was looking at the rain, and everything felt sad.  But I told myself in reality, I'm very lucky to be here even if I  am on my own.  I'm starting to look for the positives .

The third verse is the point where there is a crisis in my mind, but  then, the person I have missed for so long,  is at the door (hence the  shouts of "the door, the door" at a time when I was feeling low as I  "wonder what I'm good for"
Isolation makes you question your worth as a person, and the song was doing  that in real time.  Seeking out someone is the best thing you can do, in that situation.

Its a very dark song, though the music swirling around it is more forceful and positive than the lyric.  I joked with someone that it was "miserable Prodigy" as the rhythm is actually drum and bass,  fed through a mangle.

And then comes the final seconds where things resolve amid a sweet swirl of a glockenspiel.

WE CAN MAKE IT THROUGH
 
It is a bit of a relief to get through it!

The instruments I used were fairly usual for me.  I combined my drum  rhythm with my Akai drum machine which has a number of rap and hip hop  effects.  That makes the whip like sound with the percussion.  It also triggers random other effects from  the Synth, which adds unexpected little bleeps to the mix. There is a  little bit of electric guitar at the start as the synthesiser string  part comes in but the track is entirely synthesised  otherwise. I used a combination of presets for the strings, combining  them and adding reverb to my 24 track studio.

I added the bass part last - the track actually existed quite happily  for a while without a bass part, but I needed something to anchor the  piece."

Initially just two chords - major and minor, but everytime it goes major it is dragged back to minor again, except at the end which is a major chord.

For the video Maxx went to Dolypers Hill,  South London and Knole House  in Sevenoaks, to film deer, bare trees and half built buildings.

"I rarely do a traditional music video but I was short of footage, especially with the Lockdown, so  decided to reveal myself again. Part of it is filmed in my bedroom and  you can see my camera in the mirror!"

Mr Silver now has a more serious wig, having  dropped the rainbow punk edifice.  Nice jacket too Maxx!

Rob Harvey of Synth City (98FM Phoenix FM) picked up the track and  played it on the show several times where it was compared to both  Depeche Mode  and early Ultravox.

Says Maxx " I was really grateful to Rob for the support which has given me motivation to get the next album  completed.  As I never did see this particular track as a single, it was heartening that is went on a little adventure which is not complete yet"

It was also played on Artefaktor Radio, Mexico City on 18/5/20
Back to content