Max Matthew – “Dancin’ With Danger”

Max Matthew – “Dancin’ With Danger” – Single Review

Hmm…

So look…ultimately, I’ll make it clear as I can…I’m in Max Cappello and Matt DePaolo’s corner, and I have no problem admitting I want to see (and hear!) these two dudes succeed in this crazy thing we call the independent music scene.  As I listened to their new single “Dancin’ With Danger,” I felt like I could instantly hear some things they’d improved on since the last time I was listening to’em, and I felt like there were arguably some other things that might have dropped in quality a bit as well.  That’s the thing right…you turn your attention to one piece of your chessboard, and another ends up going unguarded as a result.  It can take years and years and years to find the balance you’re looking for, if you’re even one of the lucky few that end up finding it at all over the course of a single career.  Like I was saying though – both Max and Matt seem like good guys, and the fact that they’re doin’ what they do with an approach that’s like the two of them against the world…I dunno…I appreciate that, and I naturally root for the underdogs.  There’s no disputing the fact that these two have a verifiable depth of talent, but I also think that at the same time, they’re still just barely scratching the surface of what that is, and where it can take them.  They put out some excellent ideas the last time around when I reviewed them at the turn of the year in early January…I remember that their single “Fire Away” had a whole set of memorable hooks and showed a lot of potential in this duo.  In particular, I felt like they had a whole lot of space to further enhance the quality of their vocals with “Fire Away,” but I was confident that they’d be able to do that.

I’m more than happy to report that they DID improve their vocals on “Dancin’ With Danger!”  Honestly, there’s precious little if anything I’d change in that regard…I’m truly stoked to hear them come out sounding so strong from the microphone this time around.  Max Matthew was close enough to where they needed to be on “Fire Away” from earlier this year, but as the old saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  In terms of the art of making music, you’ll always hear the 5% you missed out on getting the most out of, rather than the 95% you got right.  “Fire Away” was probably a bit less than 95% of where they needed it to be, but where they struggled with the vocal tones, they made up for it in the hooks and great songwriting.  When it comes to “Dancin’ With Danger,” it feels a little like they flipped the previous script.  As in, I’m super happy that the vocals have come out as solid as they have, but it’s almost like it’s come at the cost of some of the strengths they displayed before.

I look at it this way.  Max Matthew kind of had a sound comparable to Maroon 5 on that last track I had reviewed from the duo.  While I’d say that’s still fairly true when it comes to “Dancin’ With Danger,” I’d also tell you that it’s actually less Maroon 5 and leans way more towards the bands/artists out of the 80s that Maroon 5 borrowed from to begin with.  So like…don’t get me wrong…I’ve got a lot of respect for just about every era of music I can think of and all the styles & sounds that come along with’em…but having said that, I lived through the freakin’ 80s…I grew up in that decade to become a teen in the 90s that was incredibly thankful that Grunge had finally come along to dirty up all the glossy sounds we experienced day in & day out.  Do I need to revisit the 80s and its neon vibes?  I’ll be honest with you – not really.  Am I concerned that Max Matthew has gone too far towards that whole synthetic era’s style of sound on “Dancin’ With Danger?”  I am!  At least a little bit.  The songwriting at the start of “Dancin’ With Danger” is actually kind of risky if you ask me…the programmed drums for instance sound a bit on the dated end of music, but that opening verse almost felt lifeless as well – and that’s a way bigger concern overall.  Where Max Matthew succeeds, most crucially, is in the chorus – the hooks work for sure, but the energy of the whole song seems to find that inspired spark it needed and the duo never really needs to look backwards from there on in.  Once they hit that first chorus, it felt like the rest of this song snapped right into the gears it needed to find – and that’s a great thing, of course.  I might feel a certain type of way about whether or not the chorus itself is too 80s or too this or too that – but all that is, is personal taste…I’m just one opinion, and while I might always put mine in print, there are scads of listeners that I am positive would be more than stoked to turn up the chorus hooks of “Dancin’ With Danger.”  Don’t get it twisted – even I’m singing along with Max Matthew half the time when I’m spinning this single…the hook WORKS, and I’d never dispute that…all I’m saying once again, is that I lived through the 80s where every second song sounded like this one does.  That doesn’t make it a bad tune by any stretch of the imagination – we’re not all on a mission to recreate the wheel, and I accept that.

They got the main things right, and for real, that’s all that really matters.  The performance is great, and they got the maximum value out of the main hooks…that’s what people are going to remember most.  Aside from that, it’s all about what does or doesn’t appeal to us all individually…and that’s beyond their control.  Max Matthew stayed focused on what they could control for the most part, and I feel like that helped them elevate their sound this time around.  The solo is outrageously cool.  The production has no problem sparking and shining.  The vocals sound stellar.  All of these are great things.  Lyrically, I’m a little less satisfied this time in comparison to the last time I was listening to Max Matthew, but at the same time, it’s Pop, and that’s a hard genre to create the kind of lyricism I’m usually looking to listen to personally.  Structurally, again, I feel like it took them a minute, but they eventually got the pulse in this track to register and found the life in its veins.  I don’t mind something that starts a little slow or sluggish as long as it ends up finding the energy it needs to succeed, which “Dancin’ With Danger” eventually does.  Essentially, if we judged this song on the merits of performance and hooks alone, I don’t think any of us could argue against its single-worthy potential, whether it sounds like it belongs to this decade, or one we’ve already lived through.  If music works on that cyclical nature that it’s always adhered to, you never know – Max Matthew might actually be ahead of the game by reaching into the past for their retro-esque sound, and a song like “Dancin’ With Danger” could shoot its way straight to number one.

Find out more about Max Matthew from this handy multi-link here:  https://linktr.ee/maxmatthew

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