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Between The Fence And The Universe Review

Hands down, Kevin Max is one of the few up-n-coming artists to keep a careful eye on. I'm certain that it's really only a matter of time before he's immortalized. Case in point, I've read that he's been heralded as "the next Peter Gabriel," and judging from all three of his solo releases (Stereotype Be, Raven Songs 101, Between the Fence and the Universe), this is a perfectly fair assessment. Like Gabriel, he is having difficult shrugging off an affiliation with a very popular former band (Gabriel-Genesis, KMax-dc Talk), yet does not let the association discourage him from making music entirely his own. Also like Gabriel, KMax is a poet capable of creating the profound out of everyday experiences. Both he and Gabriel are masters of combining multiple styles and several different world influences to create their own unique musical visions.

Personally, I think that in time, Stereotype Be and Raven Songs 101 (a spoken word album he made with Adrian Belew) will both be remembered as two of the greatest underground hits of this decade. Both are both brilliant and refreshing in sound and lyrics, and it is difficult to top their epic visions with a mere EP. That said, Between the Fence and the Universe is a good album, and my only regret is that it's over before it starts.

Drawing influence mainly from The Beatles and U2 (and it's a nice memory), KMax continues his popular thread of honest, poetic lyrics (he successfully continues to bite his thumb at CCM conventions with lines like, "[God] blows away any myth taught in Sunday School," in an attempt to take his faith outside of the box, another simularity to Peter Gabriel's spiritual music) and interesting sounds, though whereas SB and RS101 integrated all types of world music into the mix, BTFATU keeps it mainly Western European. Thus, though KMax's lyrics are as good as they've ever been, BTFATU does not have the musical poignancy of his previous efforts. This probably has more to do with the fact that the songs are in their demo stages here, but they still are very professional sounding and contain lyrics and music that are a throwback to the 1960s and 70s, when songs were actualy ABOUT something poignant (imagine that!).

Overall, the EP remains an impressive powerful work, with catchy songs and compelling lyrics about life, love, and other miscellaneous topics. Favorite tracks: Irish Hymn, To the Dearly Departed, and the catchy cover of Cohen's Halleluiah, but they are all very absorbing. Unlike Stereotype Be and Raven Songs 101, this is not a masterpiece, but it at least wets our appetite for what will hopefully be Max's next masterpiece--Put on the Masquerade, due out later this year.

Review by: Daniel F. Griffin, Amazon.com