With a new single out today, ahead of the release of his eagerly anticipated fourth studio album, we speak to Maverick Sabre about love, his teenage years, and ‘the pocket king’ Nile Rodgers.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re doing so on your phone. By all means, if you want to carry on reading about the life, times, and brand-new work from one of the most soulful voices of his generation, crack on. Just don’t forget to look up.
That’s the message the artist in question – Maverick Sabre – wants you to be aware of, ahead of the release of his fourth studio album early next year, which is, of course, titled: Don’t Forget To Look Up.
We rarely look into the distance as a generation – we’re looking at our phones or laptops all day
‘I was having a conversation with a director, and he had to go get glasses,’ he explains, in a café in Hackney, his luscious Irish accent rolling heavily over certain words. ‘He’d never had bad eyesight before, and his optician explained to him that a lot of people’s eyesight is dwindling because they’re not looking into the distance any more; we rarely look into the distance as a generation. We’re looking at our phones or our laptops, up-close, all day.
‘So much can pass us by – human interactions, connections, and general society – because we’re not looking up, we’re not looking at people in their eyes as much any more.
‘And so, the title was a case of ‘don’t forget to look up’ because there’s beauty in looking at the clouds, there’s beauty in looking up and having a conversation. It’s a reminder to myself as much as to anyone who reads it.’
Such awareness is testament to the special combination of thoughtfulness and emotion of Maverick (born Michael Stafford), who burst into our ears almost a decade ago with his uplifting track ‘I Need’. And now, after the intense doldrums of lockdown, the English-born, Irish-raised singer is emerging in especially creative spirits.
I’ve been feeling a lot of love, from both being disconnected from a relationship and then being reconnected
‘Lockdown was a reason to think, this is 4 a.m. Nothing’s going on. No one’s ringing you. No one’s got anything to say because there is no new news. For the first couple of months of lockdown, I was probably the most creative I’ve been in a long while.’
What’s more, his forthcoming album is one underpinned by that most magnificent of human emotions: love. ‘I realised, at the time of making this record, that it’s okay to express that, for a large period over the last two years, I’ve been feeling a lot of love; from both being disconnected from a relationship and then being reconnected. It’s a diary.’
ArrayToday’s release, ‘Can’t Be Wrong’, along with the two tracks put out at the end of last month, Walk These Days and Not Easy Love (featuring Demae), perfectly exemplifies the push-pull nature of being equally lovestruck and lovelorn, which the album as a whole encapsulates. ‘Can’t Be Wrong’, especially, soars off vocally into those same clouds Maverick notes are worth looking at, reminding us that love can be the force to make us look up.
That may seem like a heady claim. In truth, it perfectly chimes with an intention behind Maverick’s songwriting and producing – his philosophy, if you will. Whilst he never wishes to be ‘preaching’ (‘We all fuck up’), he insists: ‘If I’ve got four fucking minutes in someone’s ear, which is more time than some people have in their families’ ear, am I going to waste that?
If I’ve got four fucking minutes in someone’s ear, am I going to waste that?
‘We’ve all had dark days, horrible days, when we feel alone, and your closest friend can’t even speak to you. When I’ve had those moments, I’ve listened to music, and that music saved me from a bad situation and brought me out of very dark places.
‘So, if my music’s speaking about emotions about the world, if it’s something that can inspire or something that can heal or something that can make people not feel alone, I want to be that spark. That may mean the journey’s longer and they’re not ‘Top 10’ [tracks] – but that’s not me. That’s not what I’m here for.’
That desire for unleashing, for stripping back to his more authentic self, was behind Maverick’s decision in 2018 to sign with FAMM, a boutique label set up by his managers, who he ‘trust[s] with [his] life’.
And whilst there’s no bad blood between Maverick and his former major label since his departure, on account of ‘those who do really get music and some beautiful people there’, there were still admittedly some creative ‘clashes’.
We all like hits, but you also have to serve who the fuck you are
‘We all like hits,’ he says, rather pointedly, ‘but you also have to serve who the fuck you are’ – which for Maverick is as much about capturing the spirit of his 17-year-old self; the young man who made boom bap beats in his bedroom in County Wexford. The spirit that led to that first uplifting track and his breakthrough album, Lonely Are The Brave, in 2012.
‘We all constantly evolve in any creative space we’re in. So that’s my journey, but it’s also my journey to remain connected to my 17-year-old self and make sure he’s still alive and breathing and ensure that that directness and that story’s still there.’
And what would his 17-year-old self make of his new album? Simple: ‘I think he’d be fucking mad proud.’
‘I think my 17-year-old self would have thought, Shit, you’re producing these records now. This is you. This is your vision. You’ve stayed true to it’ That’s what I’ve always tried to do, so I would hope my 17-year-old self is still inside letting off a little shot.’
The legendary Nile Rodgers adds an unmistakable ‘wonkiness’ to the track, rounding off the album with a shimmer
Certainly, his collaboration with Nile Rodgers on the closing track of Don’t Forget To Look Up, following a writing session at Abbey Road Studios, would make anyone’s 17-year-old self somewhat giddy.
The legendary ‘pocket king’, as Maverick affectionately calls him – or ‘Nile bloody Rodgers’, more bluntly – adds an unmistakable ‘wonkiness’ to the track, rounding off the album with more of a shimmer than is perhaps thought of as being typical Maverick Sabre.
And whilst Maverick was admittedly ‘apprehensive about playing [Rodgers] the record’ at first, the fact that it closes the album demonstrates both the current creative licence afforded to this soulful artist, on a label which allows him full creative expression, and the lengths he’s come to be working with such musical majesty.
And when the album drops on 28th January, you’ll have the chance to listen to it yourself. You might just love it. Just do Maverick Sabre a favour: look up.
Until then, check listen to ‘Can’t Be Wrong’, which is out today.
Styling by Tommy Raban of Scabal with blue suit from Edward Sexton.
