Midwest-based independent artist Max Threat releases “Thrown” on March 17th, the follow-up to “Doe Under Headlights” and another piece of a debut LP called “When I Die, They Will Bloom” that’s clearly being built with intention. Max Threat wrote and engineered the track himself, with the drums as the only outside contribution. The production tools of note are a pair of Dreadbox synths – the analog synth lines were played and recorded live, completely unedited, which explains a lot about how the song feels. His own summary of the process: “The instrumental was cracking, and I said, ‘yeah, that works.’”
The song is relentless after its intro – looking at the waveform, it’s like it stays cranked to 11 for most of its runtime. That works in favor of the song because, unlike other tracks that demand a wide dynamic range, this one actually benefits from that sustained intensity, and it owes it mostly to the aggressive analog synth that is absolutely unstoppable throughout and gives it its signature hook. The distorted guitar slapping in the left speaker adds to that off-kilter immediacy.
Lyrically, it moves through the strange limbo of a relationship at its breaking point, with imagery that doesn’t explain itself – Panama Canals, video games, Friday as a day that contains multitudes. Max Threat himself says he can’t explain it better than it’s written, which is about the most honest thing a songwriter can say.
His quote on what he wants listeners to take from it is worth landing on: “Go whatever direction you like, but if you feel like getting up and doing something, that’s a win to me.” For a song described as burning the boats, that’s the right energy to close on.
