Miles Maxwell

Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell
October 15, 2018 Ash Country, Folk


Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell

Red Ghost is the Americana Pop debut album by Miles Maxwell and it’s fun, upbeat a little edgy, and introspective. This is the human experience we can all relate to. In the nine tracks on the album we get a real feel for all the trials and tribulations life has to offer. Sometimes it’s fun and sarcastic other times it’s straight forward and heartfelt. The guys are veterans of the Chicago Music Scene and it’s really noticeable by the skillful instrumentation and songwriting they display on Red Ghost. Have a listen to ‘She Says (Whiskey Down at 4 am)‘ below. As always, if you like what you hear then let’s keep good music coming by supporting artists. Remember to follow the band and spread the word! - The Music Below

IndiePulse Reviews New Album Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Joseph Timmons in Artist / Band Directory, Artist News, Bandcamp Reviews, Bands, Bands to Explore, featured, Featured Artists / Bands, Featured Content, Featured Labels, Industry News, Label News, Music News, New, New Albums, New Faces New sounds, New Music, news // 0 Comments




A BURST OF INSPIRED SONGWRITING AND A COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMMATE REUNION FUELS CHICAGO POWERHOUSE MILES MAXWELL’S AMERICANA ROCK INFUSED DEBUT ‘RED GHOST

Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell Official Release August 18th, 2018.

Mixed by Sean O’Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Plain White Ts, Hawthorne Heights)

Review by Joseph Timmons: IndiePulse Music Magazine

In Review: Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell is a fun, campy, sarcastic, upbeat and often irreverent album, an introspective series of tracks that show a man that faced the rainbow of ghosts and skeletons in the closet we call life.

Where there are several songs that could be considered “break up” tunes, they are not somber, but show that there is hope on the other side of sadness. Red Ghost has that east coast barroom sound, the use of instruments by this multi talented group of artists is sublime, no wasted notes, and everything has its place in perfect harmony and presence.

The album Red Ghost is presently available on Bandcamp to hear and pre-order, the stream is located in article contents. One thing to take note, is the lack of fear these artists have, to be open and expressive and create music that tugs on the heart from opening to close, it is a sign of courage and I applaud them for it, the vocals of Miles Baltrusaitis show the “inner turmoils” he experienced and he has created from these music that lightens the soul. In addition to this, with the support of his band mates, who obviously have a natural cohesiveness to their playing styles make this album, Red Ghost, a positively haunting experience.

Looking at what lead up to this great new album and this fantastic band of souls, In late summer 2017, thirty-something lead singer/guitarist Miles Baltrusaitis hadn’t played an original note of music for an audience in nearly a decade. Surprising everyone around him, he went on an intense songwriting flurry fueled by a broken heart and a suburban life rattled out of cruise control. After a month’s time, 9 deeply personal chapters of a complete narrative emerged in need of a band to bring the eclectic story songs to life.

After a chance encounter, he enlisted the help of fellow Williams College football teammate and drummer Matt Stankiewicz and his keyboardist brother Dan when their neo soul band My Blue Valentine split. The three agreed to launch the band Miles Maxwell (using Miles’s middle name) when they met bassist Steve Kingwell – a veteran of numerous suburban Chicago cover bands – through a mutual friend and the lineup was complete.

With his new songs giving him the courage to resurrect his early passion, he sought out the best available collaborators. While the band recorded all the tracks in Miles’s home studio, mixing duties were handled by renowned Fall Out Boy and Plain White T’s Producer Sean O’Keefe.

Now, only six months after debuting their blues and country infused vibe at Silvie’s Lounge, the constantly gigging band has released its multifaceted debut album Red Ghost.

Genre-wise, the members have a wide range of influences including everything from pop-folkies Steve Goodman and Harry Chapin, alt-country rockers Uncle Tupelo, the Americana legend Steve Earle, and the Jazz Rock of Steely Dan. As a student, Miles studied jazz guitar at Williams, dug deeply into the Chicago Blues tradition and took a few years to learn American Primitive fingerstyle guitar a la John Fahey. As a songwriter, he’s a graduate of the Williams College Singer Songwriter program that also produced Molly Venter of Red Molly and Caitlin Canty. Matt and Dan’s father was a music teacher in Western Massachusetts where he encouraged them to pursue an education in music. Matt completed his degree in percussion at Williams while Dan inherited his father’s passion for vintage electronic pianos.

The nine compelling tracks on Red Ghost are lyrically witty and decidedly quirky, but also have a heartfelt confessional intensity that Miles never could have shared back in his 20’s. The band’s chief songwriter had to live the pain of falling for someone outside of marriage and watching that “girl become a ghost” (a lyric in the rumbling, Prince-styled country rocker “Something New,” which colorfully weaves the basic story) to write brilliant tunes about it. Another gem is the tight, edgy blues-rock ballad “She Says (Whiskey Down at 4 am),” which chronicles a sleazy confrontation in a Vegas bar where secrets are revealed, true feelings are exposed and a conversation unravels a larger story.

Title aside, the first release “Terrible Song,” is a mid-tempo pop/rocker with an irresistible guitar hook that examines how it feels to compromise a marriage pursuing a fling that shouldn’t have happened and couldn’t last. Though it’s the final song on the album, the Fender Rhodes, organ and guitar-driven blues ballad “Red Ghost” is the album’s emotional centerpiece. As Miles says, “It’s a song about trying to close the chapter on a story that is blurry and fading in the rear view mirror. Trying to make sense of the unknown, like why didn’t things work? What was wrong with me? What was wrong with her? Where do I go from here? It’s not a happy ending but an ending nonetheless.”

When speaking of the recording process, Miles added “I love the dynamic we have where I can bring in a crazy idea, riff, lyric or story to Matt and Dan and they instinctively know how to give shape and structure. They’ll improve on it with extended vocal harmonies, or use their deep understanding of tempo and change the rhythm scheme to make it just right. Then we put Steve on top of that and we’ve got something pretty amazing.”

Miles Maxwell is:

Bass: Steve Kingwell
Drums: Matt Stankiewicz
Keys: Dan Stankiewicz
Guitars and Vocals: Miles Baltrusaitis

http://milesmaxwell.com
http://www.facebook.com/MilesMaxwellMusic
http://www.twitter.com/milesmaxwell
http://milesmaxwell.bandcamp.com/releases - IndiePulse Music Magazine

Sounds: Miles Maxwell // Red Ghost

August 20, 2018 by leftbankmagSounds

In late summer 2017, thirty-something lead singer/guitarist Miles Baltrusaitis hadn’t played an original note of music for an audience in nearly a decade. Surprising everyone around him, he went on an intense songwriting flurry fueled by a broken heart and a suburban life rattled out of cruise control.

From that, we got this new Americana rock-infused album Red Ghost. No one makes heartbreak so much fun, and while I’m happy to say I haven’t experienced heartbreak in a while, I know who to turn to/where to turn.

After a chance encounter, he enlisted the help of fellow Williams College football teammate and drummer Matt Stankiewicz and his keyboardist brother Dan. The three agreed to launch the band Miles Maxwell (hint: Maxwell is Miles’s middle name), added on Steve Kingwell – and the lineup was complete.

“I love the dynamic we have where I can bring in a crazy idea, riff, lyric or story to Matt and Dan and they instinctively know how to give shape and structure. They’ll improve on it with extended vocal harmonies, or use their deep understanding of tempo and change the rhythm scheme to make it just right. Then we put Steve on top of that and we’ve got something pretty amazing.”

Genre-wise, the guys have a wide range of influences: Steve Goodman and Harry Chapin, alt-country rockers Uncle Tupelo, the Americana legend Steve Earle, and the Jazz Rock of Steely Dan. Which you all hear a little bit in the new album.

The nine compelling tracks on Red Ghost are lyrically witty and decidedly quirky, but also have a heartfelt confessional intensity that Miles never could have shared back in his 20’s.

The 20’s are being little pieces of shits, the 30’s are for telling stories about it.

The album just came out a few days ago (favorite tracks: She Says (Whiskey Down at 4AM) and Something New). Go on, give it a listen.

-K

Mixed by Sean O’Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Plain White Ts, Hawthorne Heights) - Left Bank Magazine

Miles Maxwell Debut 'Red Ghost'

A BURST OF INSPIRED SONGWRITING AND A COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMMATE REUNION FUELS CHICAGO POWERHOUSE MILES MAXWELL’S AMERICANA ROCK INFUSED DEBUT ‘RED GHOST’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2018 - Chicago, Illinois

In late summer 2017, thirty-something lead singer/guitarist Miles Baltrusaitis hadn’t played an original note of music for an audience in nearly a decade. Surprising everyone around him, he went on an intense songwriting flurry fueled by a broken heart and a suburban life rattled out of cruise control. After a month’s time, nine deeply personal chapters of a complete narrative emerged in need of a band to bring the eclectic story songs to life.

After a chance encounter, he enlisted the help of fellow Williams College football teammate and drummer Matt Stankiewicz and his keyboardist brother Dan when their neo soul band My Blue Valentine split. The three agreed to launch the band Miles Maxwell (using Miles’s middle name) when they met bassist Steve Kingwell – a veteran of numerous suburban Chicago cover bands – through a mutual friend and the lineup was complete.

With his new songs giving him the courage to resurrect his early passion, he sought out the best available collaborators. While the band recorded all the tracks in Miles’s home studio, mixing duties were handled by renowned Fall Out Boy and Plain White T’s Producer Sean O’Keefe. Now, only six months after debuting their blues and country infused vibe at Silvie’s Lounge, the constantly gigging band has released its multi-faceted debut album Red Ghost.

Genre-wise, the members have a wide range of influences including everything from pop-folkies Steve Goodman and Harry Chapin, alt-country rockers Uncle Tupelo, the Americana legend Steve Earle, and the Jazz Rock of Steely Dan. As a student, Miles studied jazz guitar at Williams, dug deeply into the Chicago Blues tradition and took a few years to learn American Primitive fingerstyle guitar a la John Fahey. As a songwriter, he’s a graduate of the Williams College Singer Songwriter program that also produced Molly Venter of Red Molly and Caitlin Canty. Matt and Dan’s father was a music teacher in Western Massachusetts where he encouraged them to pursue an education in music. Matt completed his degree in percussion at Williams while Dan inherited his father’s passion for vintage electronic pianos.

The nine compelling tracks on Red Ghost are lyrically witty and decidedly quirky, but also have a heartfelt confessional intensity that Miles never could have shared back in his 20’s. The band’s chief songwriter had to live the pain of falling for someone outside of marriage and watching that “girl become a ghost” (a lyric in the rumbling, Prince-styled country rocker “Something New,” which colorfully weaves the basic story) to write brilliant tunes about it. Another gem is the tight, edgy blues-rock ballad “She Says (Whiskey Down at 4 am),” which chronicles a sleazy confrontation in a Vegas bar where secrets are revealed, true feelings are exposed and a conversation unravels a larger story.

Title aside, the first release “Terrible Song,” is a mid-tempo pop/rocker with an irresistible guitar hook that examines how it feels to compromise a marriage pursuing a fling that shouldn’t have happened and couldn’t last. Though it’s the final song on the album, the Fender Rhodes, organ and guitar-driven blues ballad “Red Ghost” is the album’s emotional centerpiece. As Miles says, “It’s a song about trying to close the chapter on a story that is blurry and fading in the rear view mirror. Trying to make sense of the unknown, like why didn't things work? What was wrong with me? What was wrong with her? Where do I go from here? It’s not a happy ending but an ending nonetheless.”

When speaking of the recording process, Miles added “I love the dynamic we have where I can bring in a crazy idea, riff, lyric or story to Matt and Dan and they instinctively know how to give shape and structure. They’ll improve on it with extended vocal harmonies, or use their deep understanding of tempo and change the rhythm scheme to make it just right. Then we put Steve on top of that and we’ve got something pretty amazing.” - Indie Music Reporter

Music Review: Miles Maxwell – ‘Red Ghost’
Randall Radic August 16, 2018 Comments Offon Music Review: Miles Maxwell – ‘Red Ghost’ 294 Views

Miles Maxwell recently dropped their debut album, called Red Ghost, a title referring to watching that “girl become a ghost.” The story behind the album goes like this: Singer/guitarist Miles Baltrusaitis fell for someone outside of marriage, suffered a broken heart and the pain that goes with it. His response was to start writing music for the first time in almost a decade.

Nine songs later, he needed a band to play them. After a chance encounter, he recruited drummer Matt Stankiewicz, keyboardist Dan Stankiewicz, and bassist Steve Kingwell. The band’s sound encompasses a wide range of influences, including Steve Goodman and Harry Chapin, Uncle Tupelo, Steve Earle, and Steely Dan. In other words, folk-pop, alt-country, Americana, and jazz-rock.

Of the nine tracks on the album, all are worthwhile. However, a few stand above the others for purely subjective reasons. “Something New” is an upbeat alt-country number with a rollicking rhythm and lots of harmonic pizzazz.

Maybe my favorite track on the album is the instrumental number called “Jenever (in Acquia).” The music exudes a delightful Celtic/country-hoedown flavor, as well as hints of bluegrass seeping forth. It’s optimistic, buoyant, and melodic.

“Terrible Song” is a mid-tempo pop number with rock filaments running through it. The Dave Matthews-like hook makes the song contagious. The lyrics to “Terrible Song” are distinctive and wryly amusing:

“And it’s terrible / Living this life without you / Incomparable / Is the pain now that you’re gone / And I’m despairable / So bad that I’ve been making up words / Like despairable since I lost you.”

The closing song on the album, “Red Ghost,” a balladic piece oozing deep, bluesy flavors and potent melancholy, emanates profound emotions. The dirge-like braying of the organ infuses the tune with despondency and aching colors.

“Red Ghost” reflects tantalizing wisps of nostalgic recollection and the palpable cheerless power of heartache, along with ironic observations on the absurdity of love and life. I recommend it to you.

Follow Miles Maxwell on milesmaxwell.com, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to Red Ghost by Miles Maxwell via Bandcamp. - Blog Critics

Album Review: Miles Maxwell – Red Ghost

Michael Stover September 3, 2018

Miles Maxwell – Red Ghost

BANDCAMP: https://milesmaxwell.bandcamp.com/releases

You can tell when a band was never meant to do anything outside of the recording studio. Some artists have a command of the stage, others have a command of the soundboard, but very rarely have I found artists who possess both. These days, thanks to the explosion in technological advances that have allowed the recording industry to expand out of Los Angeles studios and into people’s private homes, I tend to find more artists whose music simply isn’t conveyable in a live setting. Some of my fellow critics have started to interpret this trend as the beginning of the end for live music, but I don’t think it’s quite as bleak as all that. At least not when I listen to an album like Red Ghost, that is. Red Ghost is the new record by the recent upstart Chicago outfit Miles Maxwell, and even though it was indeed recorded within the confines of four studio walls, it nevertheless manages to capture all of the ferocity of a band that has conquered the local circuit and is looking to take their sound national.

The term “raw power” comes to mind when listening to Red Ghost,their approach to recording is very DIY in its design. Miles Maxwell are, undisputedly , musician’s musicians. For them, this is less of a career path and more of a lifestyle that was never inspired by a motivation to get rich or become famous on any level. This is about expression, emotion and self-realization. In other words, this is a lot more like a religion for them than it is anything else, and that seriousness is reflected in Red Ghost. The band zealously dispatches nine tracks in almost rapid fire succession, and while I ignorantly waited for the weaker tracks to fill in the gaps between the obvious star songs on the record, those tracks never came. There isn’t a single song, from the opening “Snapdragon” to the eponymous title track which brings the record to a conclusion, that isn’t a hit here. Red Ghost is anthological and might be tough to top when Miles Maxwell returns to the studio to work on a sequel.

Country music fans are going to get hooked on “I Can’t Be Myself” and “Something New.” Blues and rock fans will get their fix of sizzling riffage in “Terrible Song” and “Snapdragon.” And frankly, anyone who listens to “Jenever (in Acquia)” will probably forget about every other new band they’ve heard this year. As unfortunate as it may be, the reality is that you just don’t find records that are as jam-packed full of compelling content as Red Ghostis anymore, and this record is something that really does deserve to be cherished. Music is being reshaped and redefined right now in new and exciting ways that we could have never imagined as little as twenty years ago, and it’s thanks to bands like Miles Maxwell the essence of classic Americana continues to survive in this creatively volatile time in history.

Matthew Johns - Music Existence

Miles Maxwell – Red Ghost

BANDCAMP: https://milesmaxwell.bandcamp.com/releases

I listen to a lot of different kinds of records in this line of work. For the most part, 2018 hasn’t been a very exciting year for any genre over another; in fact, it’s been almost universally boring output from all of the established acts in pop. I was expecting more of the same when I came across a band called Miles Maxwell out of the Midwest, a self-described Americana outfit with diverse influences from country, blues and alternative rock. I wasn’t just blown away by their new album Red Ghost, I was moved by their inventiveness. 2018 really needed a hero, and we’ve found one in this Chicago foursome.

It doesn’t get much smoother than records like Red Ghost. Whether it’s the simplicity of songs like “Snapdragon,” “She Says (Whiskey Down at 4am)” or the edginess of “Be with Me” or “Terrible Song” (which is one of the most sophisticatedly creative pop songs I’ve heard in the last five years), there’s something to appeal to everyone on this album. There’s color, really sweet grooves and a depth of palate that is undeniably intellectual. Critics have been arguing over whether or not country music, rock music and R&B could exist under the same umbrella of pop anymore without becoming totally repetitive. Miles Maxwell pretty much smashes the theory that they can’t with this album.

While each one of the tracks on Red Ghost is ideally produced and elaborate enough to stand on their own as singles, their inclusion together in this album deserves a lot of praise as well. Red Ghost feels like a concept album but without all of the cheesy over the top bravado of a progressive band. I’ve listened to this record a few times now from start to finish, and each time I play it through I’m able to embrace another layer of its complexities, which as both a critic and a fellow musician myself is a completely spellbinding experience all by itself.

Chicago has given us some of the most incredible artists in the history of the American songbook, and yet again the city has created another legend in this band, who clearly have ambitions as sprawling as their hometown.

Sebastian Cole - Gashouse Radio

Miles Maxwell: Red Ghost Review: A Wonderful Start

August 19, 2018 Matt Hirsch

Hailing from the Second City, Miles Maxwell formed in 2017 when guitarist and songwriter Miles Baltrusaitis had enough of covering others people’s music and went on a musical frenzy. It was this songwriting flurry and a couple of chance encounters that led to the forming of the band and the recording of Red Ghost. Inspired by heartbreak and living a life that was slowly but surely spinning out of control, Red Ghost is an album that talks about some of life’s most significant struggles. An emotionally matured Baltrusaitis poured his heart and soul into the record, forging his feelings into some of the most intensely sincere lyrics in recent memory. It’s this brutal honesty that makes it so easy to be empathetic and to feel the emotion behind the songs.

The first standout track of the album is “She Says (Whiskey Down at 4 am.)” The song tells the tale of two friends in separate relationships finally discussing their unspoken feelings for each other. The song opens with the woman confronting the man over a shot of whiskey, asking him. “What’s this I hear about you having a crush on me?” Astonished the man replied, “You impress me, make me nervous.” It’s this dialogue between the pair from the perspective of a third party that allows the song to play out like a movie in your head. The twanging guitar and funky bass line, along with Baltrusaitis’s Bob Dylan-esque delivery create an image of two people, most likely in their early thirties sitting at the bar of some dive in Chicago talking about life. At the end of the song, the two decide that they are better off remaining friends and nothing more, and walk away with closure. The track is an excellent example of storytelling in music, being both vague enough to allow the listener to insert themselves into the song, but descriptive enough to paint a picture.

The final, and title track of the album is the culmination of the twenty-five or-so minute emotional rollercoaster that is Red Ghost. It’s a melancholy song about Baltrusaitis reflecting on his failed relationship, coming to terms with the mistakes he made, and coping with the loss of love. He personifies this pain as a “red ghost.” Throughout the song, he confesses that he should have known he was steadily pushing his significant other away, and in the wake of the destruction of what was a very messy and vicious breakup, they left a trail of victims in the forms of their loved ones with which they now have to make amends. Anyone who has ever experience the tragedy of heartbreak will instantly be able to draw comparisons to their own lives and will sympathize and empathize with the narrator. Life is hard, and we’re only human. We make mistakes and have to live with our decisions for better or for worse. This tale of love and loss is a perfect example of this and is and is telling of Baltrusaitis’s mastery of creating a relatable story through his lyrics.

Miles Maxwell’s freshman effort, Red Ghost is not only a collection of nine beautiful songs that are relatable to everyone but an enthralling journey through songwriter and frontman Miles Baltrusaitis’s psyche as he copes with heartache. It’s a masterpiece of musical storytelling that shows honest growth as a person both in maturity level and emotionally. Baltrusaitis is a gifted lyricist with the ability to channel his pain and anguish into something refined and relatable and makes for an excellent first full-length album. - Reviewfix

Miles Maxwell
Red Ghost

Aug 15, 2018 - Rebecca Cullen

Red Ghost is a project that offers the familiar, organic groove of modern Americana or folk-rock. Snapdragon as an opener presents an interesting concept and a musically full soundscape, but it’s undoubtedly the following song I Can’t Be Myself that connects on a distinct and memorable level. Perhaps the band’s live sound is more likely to let an energetic track thrive and draw an audience, but for the solo listener at home, there’s something heartbreakingly real about this second song – the leading voice is laid bare and appears softly gritty in its delivery of this incredibly open, widely relatable song.

She Says (Whiskey Down at 4am) introduces a vibe that pretty perfectly suits that implied by its title. The instrumentation is crisp and satisfying, the song has warmth and compelling story-telling, a sense of dialogue and two perspectives. It’s a laid back, good vibes kind of piece, but not without drama and a sense of mild anticipation. Something New follows with an explosive country rock aura – even the leading vocalist delivers in a more classically country manner here. The melody and the energy feel familiar and comforting. You can pretty much guarantee by this point that a Friday night at the bar with the Miles Maxwell band playing would be an evening well spent.

Jenever (in Acquia) is an instrumentally magical piece of music that comes through at just the right moment to let its ambiance really embrace you. The musicianship is incredibly impressive but somewhat subtle in being so. Be With Me afterwards bursts into lightness and joy, a classic feel emerges and a simple, directly addressing string of lyrics make it a very personal song – albeit one that’s easy to connect to any number of near relationships.

The intriguingly titled Terrible Song is one that unfolds to be a warming, stylish highlight. The honesty and the clarity of the leading voice and those meandering guitar riffs makes for something immediately likable. Ceiling Fan afterwards continues the intrigue and adds further to the musical strengths of the project. The vocals here have passion and power, the melody descends throughout and creates a long-chain effect that has you hanging on every word and sees you swept away in the evolution of the moment.

Things come to a close with the gentle and deeply reflective title track – an easy personal favourite, the chord progression and the organic swagger of the instrumentation creates something cool and thoughtful. All of this accompanies the softness of the vocal delivery, these final, almost whispered moments, captivate entirely. It’s a brilliant song, fascinating and quite addictive in how it builds up and moves along. The song’s hook is simple but undeniably effective, those two words and the following chorus of distant vocals create a calming moment that feels much bigger than the instrumentation suggests. A great way to finish and a likely reminder to head back and listen through once more. Red Ghost in full makes for a thoroughly enjoyable playlist. - StereoStickman

Miles Maxwell – Red Ghost
by Anne Hollister

Miles Maxwell – Red Ghost

BANDCAMP: https://milesmaxwell.bandcamp.com/releases

In “Terrible Song,” one of the more shimmering cuts from Miles Maxwell’s Red Ghost, vocalist/guitarist Miles Baltrusaitis croons his way around a delicately spun set of strings that evoke imagery of old Chicago, when the aesthetic of the city was as blue as the sky above. It’s a dirge, but it’s a remarkably optimistic one thanks to its irreverent twang, and moreover it stands as a prime example of the kind of duality that Miles Maxwell brings to the table in their debut album. Released earlier this year, Red Ghost has been lighting up the American indie underground and shining some light on a music scene that is still as relevant as it ever was, if not more so today.

Lyrically Miles Maxwell doesn’t cut any corners in the plethora of Americana found on Red Ghost, and while the imagistic verses frequently border on the bucolic, the electrifying haze of the band behind Baltrusaitis keep the record from becoming a straight up folk rock piece.

You can tell that a lot of time was spent developing Red Ghost track by track. From the post-production engineering all the way up to the raw instrumentation itself, the affectionate tonality of this album is accentuated by the brightly colored presentation of its musicians’ individual skillsets. Every member of Miles Maxwell is pulling their weight here, and in my opinion their compatibility with each other makes this album far more listenable than anything else found on the FM dial today.

From the nimbleness of the guitar parts to the tightly wound percussion, Red Ghost showcases a band that is in their creative and physical prime. Miles Maxwell haven’t been together very long, but, they’ve certainly learned each other’s musical mannerisms quite well. When I listen to a song like the title track, I don’t feel like I’m listening to a band that is still trying to find its identity. I feel like I’m listening to a band that is as confident as it is talented.

I’ve never done this for a debut album before, but I think that Red Ghost is going to be my nomination for album of the year. This isn’t just a creative breakthrough for the musicians behind its composition, it’s a watershed moment for the Chicago music scene, which has been criminally overlooked in recent years while its insular underground has continued to turn out some of the most thought-provoking and artistically inspiring acts in all of music. Miles Maxwell is going big places, and their sound is bringing the energy of their amazing city with them.

Erica Carr approved by Anne Hollister - The Indie Source

Miles Maxwell Sets Wheels In Motion With ‘Red Ghost’

Scott Carlito

With a rollicking beat and some golden strings peppered over a piano that looks yearningly towards the past, Miles Maxwell wastes no time jumping head first into infectious melodies in “Snapdragon,” the first song of their very first album, Red Ghost, which is out now. It’s an upbeat primer for the exquisite slow dance of “I Can’t Be Myself,” which is guided by the subdued moan of an organ and elegantly punctuated by the timber of lead singer Miles Baltrusaitis’ vocal. It’s the perfect appetizer to the robustly appointed “She Says (Whisky Down at 4 am),” which oozes with back porch country swagger. I wouldn’t call Miles Maxwell a country band, but, they definitely employ the straightforwardness of Nashville legends like Merle Haggard.

“Something New” starts up the second of the three acts that Red Ghost can be broken into, and takes the countrified tempo of the previous track and adds a shot of adrenaline to the mix. In a less abrasive transition than we might expect, “Jenever (in Acquia)” follows “Something New” with easy-going folk instrumentation that eventually unfolds into an all-out string jam. The hypnotically swirling rhythm lazily carries us down a stream in the middle of a backwoods land before we lay into the jazzy swing of “Be with Me.” Miles Maxwell keep us guessing what will be waiting around every twist and turn of Red Ghost.

If you were to only listen to the first half of Red Ghost, you’d be a lot more likely to label Miles Maxwell as strictly a country/folk act. “Terrible Song” immediately follows “Be with Me,” and it’s around this point (entering the third “act,” as I referenced before) that we begin to realize just how diversely structured a sound this band is actually sporting. “Terrible Song” is straight up crossover jazz, and the added country-tinge makes it so enigmatically alluring and unique. “Ceiling Fan” similarly surprises, starting off with a riff that is pure 80’s college rock/proto alternative along the lines of The Replacements, Green Pajamas or Dinosaur Jr, before Miles Maxwell comes undone with their trademark country howl.

Red Ghost finishes up with the title track, which effectively brings the albums melting pot of influences and tones full circle in a singular, all-encompassing song that is an excellent foray into the band’s style for any listener trying to understand their interesting persona and angular songwriting formula. When I finished listening to this record for the first time, I couldn’t make up my mind as to whether or not I had just listened to a country band making a garage-blues record, or if I had just listened to a group of jazz musicians’ sonic commentary on country/western music.

After listening to it a second time, I decided that neither quite summarized Miles Maxwell’s personality. This is just brilliant music, and that’s all there really is to it. If you’re inclined, you should give Red Ghost a spin and hear exactly what I mean – you won’t be disappointed.

-review by Jodi Marxbury - Indie Band Guru