Maxwell: "Pretty Wings"

Even though he apparently considered the Bush years as much of a buzzkill as Erykah Badu and D’Angelo, Maxwell has always been the canny pop face of neo-soul, doubtlessly spending his exile thinking about deep shit and crafting interesting chord progressions rather than getting paranoid, getting drunk and playing video games, or doing whatever the fuck Lauryn Hill does. That might make him less of a fascinating trainwreck, but it does produce some of the most consistently high-quality music of its kind.

“Pretty Wings” starts with arresting chimes reminiscent of Madlib’s production on Erykah Badu’s “The Healer,” but instead of leading to a mystical freak out, they’re a recurrent hook, one that gets distorted, replicated on other instruments, moved up a key. There are horns, but instead of Soulquarian doodles or retro aping, they’re just fucking horns, helping to build intensity as the ‘Well gets a little vulnerable: “I should have showed you better nights, better times, better days.” He has a complete thought in his head about why it’s totally okay that the right girl’s gone, and while the lyrics work smoothly, it’s the precision of the arrangement that makes his particular thought so redolent. His brand of soul may split the line too blandly between contemporary shine and session-band, old-school street cred, but the best moments of BLACKsummers’night take advantage of big-label talent to make wise, slinky, damn effective pop songs. If that’s the cost of having your head on straight, it sounds like a pretty good bargain to me.