In 1996, a 22-year-old Brooklynite by the name of Maxwell debuted with a sensual, sophisticated song cycle called “Urban Hang Suite.” He followed it with a tour that established him as a star — a sly, feral throwback to soul music’s heyday, one of a handful of performers (along with D’Angelo and Tony Rich) boldly attempting to reinvent the sound of Marvin Gaye and Frankie Beverly for a new generation instead of joining the ranks of overstimulated new-jack crooners.
Then came “Embrya.” The 1998 concept album confused many “Hang Suite” fans with its murky imagery, even as it challenged R&B convention with its ambient textures and experimental sound. And even though tickets were selling briskly for his fall ’98 tour, Maxwell abruptly pulled the plug on all the dates and disappeared. As Maxwell himself says, “People were starting to wonder if I’d lost my mind.” Instead, he returned triumphantly a few months ago with a No. 1 single, “Fortunate,” written and produced by R. Kelly.
Now, before taking his act to the stage of the Arie Crown on Monday, Maxwell took time to take stock.
People are catching up with “Embrya,” even though it caught a lot of your fans off stride. Now that it’s a million-seller, do you feel vindicated?
It’s like I jumped off a cliff, and now I’m . . . fine (laughs). I mean the record was going into oblivion as not only the worst Maxwell record but the worst record of 1998! I knew the record would be both beneficial and problematic, in extreme ways. I heard from people who absolutely loved and absolutely hated it — and that’s what I wanted. People thought it was pretentious, overblown. But if I can’t force my own development, who’s going to give it to me? Who’s going to allow me the opportunity to do what Marvin Gaye did in the ’70s, when he made three records in a row that didn’t sell. I mean, that is not the age we’re living in now. The audience isn’t going to give you that kind of leeway.
They’ll be fine if you keep pumping it, if I had given them another “Till the Cops Come Knocking” or “Ascension” (both “Hang Suite” hits). But I don’t want to meet a quota — I love the idea of causing conversation, of having people think I’ve lost it. For me, Prince’s defining moment was “Dirty Mind.” He was doing something nobody really understood at the time. Marvin Gaye’s defining moment was “Here My Dear,” another record nobody bought. When I want to know who Marvin was — the guy who was afraid, vulnerable — that’s the record I put on. I don’t mean to compare “Embrya” to those, but I wanted to jump off a cliff like they did.
You’ve got to admit, though, that a lot of your lyrics on “Embrya” are hard to follow.
Yes — syntax and tense are very much challenged on this record (laughs). But it’s like making love to someone for the first time — how do you describe that feeling? If you’re talking about God or anything spiritual that means anything to you, how can you put that into words? I love how this record is only starting to make sense to people now, after a year of listening.
Why did you cancel the tour last fall?
People call in sick everyday. That’s all I did. It was hard thing for me to do, because I felt it was like a career-ending decision: People needed to see the show to make sense of the music; radio wasn’t playing the record and this might have given them a reason. I was in fear that I would lose what I had worked so hard to get. But I knew that I couldn’t get up in front of an audience and give them 50 percent. It would have been like being with a girl and thinking of another one. I had to deal with something in my life that was keeping me from being able to concentrate on my career. That’s over now, and I’m more than ready to tour again.
How did you and R. Kelly get along on “Fortunate”?
We never saw each other. We still haven’t even so much as shaken hands. He sent me the tape and I put my voice on it. I was just pleased that when it was sent back to him he didn’t have any objections to the changes I made. He allowed me a lot of liberty and I was grateful for that.
When I heard the song I couldn’t deny it. It was symbolic for me at the time. Up till that time I had produced and written everything I’d recorded, so this was like becoming a character in somebody else’s song, which I found intriguing.
Any more surprises planned for your third album (due next year)?
It’s called “Now” and it’s not smooth in the way you’re used to — if “Embrya” had been any smoother it would have just dripped off the CD. This one will not be about ambience. It’s about commotion.
What I like is the way you blend live instruments with the electronic stuff so that you can’t even tell which is which.
That’s my mission, that’s how I feel. When you go see the latest “Star Wars” movie, you see these computer generated things interacting with humans. There is something gorgeous about that.
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