As the Live Music world has ground to a temporary halt, in most, if not all cases, artists are making the most of it. With tours cancelled, the outside energy has been cut off, in a way. The roar of the crowd, the constant waves of influence, these are things that even the smallest grouping of people can produce, and that love to the sound is hard to replace. However, as long as evolution and adaptation has been a trait in our DNA, it’s only been a matter of time till that creative impulse triggers off of the demand to make something new. In that light, Empty Atlas has pushed on to produce a relevant track for the here & now, aimed at the efforts we all push to give, very much felt within “Maximal”.

For the Mississippi natives, life has existed on tour and in the lab since their 2018 release “Short Fiction”, a track laced with both memories and intentions, covered with the desire to see things out differently in another life. It’s easy then, with the time in between, to see a metamorphic link connecting the two tracks together. Where in “Short Fiction” the subject dives in on the “what if” factor, “Maximal” is full of the determination to see through to the end. The growth between the two songs also throws in a measure of mind, and when it comes to citing an artist on their history release to release, this will surely be that passage of time to look into.

What stands out most in the new track is the information given inside of it. As someone that passed a personal milestone in their life, “I’m already past 25, so my best years are behind me” hits with a self-awareness that is both staggering and will stop most listeners to consider that idea. In a split second, Singer/songwriter Micah Smith cuts through immediately to us the message of how precious he considers this time in his life to be, and make a strong case for us in the audience to do that same. Instrumentally, we’re carried along steadily by Robert Hansford’s careful rhythm on the drums, while Alex Ingram and Brennan White back up Micah on bass & guitar, respectively. Their trek upward with the slowly built-up tempo captures the mood in a sobered way, especially at the end where the bridge unexpectedly ends, leaving the song with an audible exclamation point. As a motivational track, it comes alongside as a lighter version of Eminem’s “Believe” as another aspect of how we strive for that motivation to strike the iron and make something worthwhile of ourselves. The older we get, the harder it’ll seem to embrace that energy, but as seen here through the band’s words, it’s a worthwhile endeavor.

Empty Atlas’s “Maximal” hit the world on Spotify & other streaming outlets on April 24^th, so before the end of the weekend, catch yourself lost in a new favorite track. One can’t say whether the climactic bridge will jolt your system, but in the new age of the pandemic at play, it will have your consideration as to what the time we all suddenly have means for the long-run to come.

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