Maxwell
Embrya (Columbia)
Maxwell’s second studio release picks up on the plush, atmospheric neo-soul of his highly promising 1996 debut. The jumping-off points are the sensual mid-’70s discs of Marvin Gaye and the sultry ’80s pop of Sade, whose songwriting collaborator — Stuart Matthewman — plays and co-produces on “Embrya.” Like the debut, “Embrya” can be heard as a song cycle, based on notions of rebirth and renewal in life and love. Maxwell positions himself as an old soul, a singer with a breathy tenor voice that is a welcome respite from the legions of “do-me” moaners and thug-life shouters clogging the R&B charts. But “Embrya” functions primarily as background music, sustaining its contemplative tone and percolating groove almost too well.
