max de mara: classist (2008)

Max de Mara
Classist ••½
Six Inch Records 

Classist is an album that’s not to be taken too seriously. The collaboration between Mara Carlyle and Max de Wardener, under the name ‘Max de Mara’, is one of three short works to be released by purpose-built label Six Inch Records. The man responsible is Radiohead’s favourite artist Stanley Donwood, who was, so the story goes, a little drunk when he came up with the idea. Each album has a limited run of 333 copies, and each will be sold at £6.66 (economic realities obviously thwarting the rule of three). Classist isn’t a recording you really ask ‘why?’ of, simply because the answer is so obviously ‘why the hell not?’

That said, Classist is a tad sombre and at times even dull, in spite of its playful conception. This is, in part, to do with its structure. Technically, it’s not so much of a collaboration as an act of curation, with Carlyle and de Wardener taking turns at providing tracks. Carlyle leads off first with an arrangement of Handel’s ‘Art Thou Troubled?’, which, given the absolute wonder that is her voice, is unsurprisingly lovely. This is followed by the first part of de Wardener’s Bee Trilogy, entitled ‘Swarm’ and originally commissioned for the 150th anniversary of the National Portrait Gallery in 2006. It is here performed by the Elysian Quartet, resulting in an intricate and beautiful piece, delicately balanced, and full of imagination. 

It’s a promising opening, but unfortunately it sets a pattern that remains for the rest of the album. Carlyle’s tracks are limited to hymns and arias, while de Wardener’s Bee Trilogy is essentially self-contained by virtue of its very nature. The interspersion and juxtaposition of the two is a pointless exercise, simply because the mix never manages to spark a dynamism that would make Classist feel like a complete experience. Of the two artists, de Wardener tends to come off better out of the affair, with ‘The Queen’, the third part of the Bee Trilogy, evoking a vast, chambered loneliness. The second part, ‘Hive’, is disappointing. De Wardener appears to have added a buzzing, echoing affect over the recording in post-production. If intended, the bee-related metaphor is clumsy and obvious.

Carlyle, on the other hand, tends to suffer under the restrictions of the songs she has chosen to contribute, with the exception of the Handel. ‘When I Am Laid In Earth’, ‘God Be In My Head’ and ‘Belle Nuit’, by Purcell, Walford Davies and Offenbach, respectively, are far too demure for a voice that has as much colour and personality as hers. What makes her so compelling as an artist is her otherworldly charm, particularly its sense of flirtation and possibility. On Classist, she sounds bored and surprisingly sexless. You couldn’t be blamed if your immediate reaction is to hark back to The Lovely and the Ancient & Modern EP to remind yourself just how good she can be.

To be absolutely fair, Classist is obviously a side project and something of an idle experiment, as is made obvious by its limited run. It’s an intriguing if not particularly enjoyable listen. Carlyle brings it all to a close by interrupting her own rendition of ‘Belle Nuit’ to loudly exclaim, “Fucking fuck it” – probably the turn of phrase she would use about EMI, who continue to annoy by sitting on her second album Nuzzle – but she says it with such venom and, oddly, class, that it might be worth the entry price for Classist alone.

Scott Sinclair
UK release date: 01/12/08; www.myspace.com/maracarlyle

 

Written by: Wears The Trousers magazine

Tags: mara carlyle, max de mara, max de wardener, radiohead, scott sinclair, stanley donwood

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