Mayer Hawthorne
 

Mayer Hawthorne (real name: Andrew Cohen) is a 34 year old Ann Arbor Michigan native who created a buzz in the neo-soul scene in 2009 when he released his debut album A Strange Arrangement.

http://www.fuelfriendsblog.com/wp-co...nt-300x300.jpg
Album cover for A Strange Arrangement (2009)

Don't let his "lord of the dorks" appearance fool you, Hawthorne is a first rate R&B/Soul musician who produces, writes, arranges, plays all the instruments and sings all the vocal parts on his albums. He has the kind of musical talent we all wish we were born with.

Just Ain't Gonna Work Out sounds like a song that could have appeared on an old Chi-Lites album in the '70s.



In October 2011, Hawthrone released his second album, How Do You Do, which had an even better set of songs than his debut. Shortly thereafter Kanye West declared Hawthorne to be totally cool & in doing so expanded his audience, but Hawthorne remains a bit of a cult figure on the fringes of the neo-soul & alternative music scene in the USA.

http://hypetrak.com/images/2011/08/M...rk-300x300.jpg
Album cover for How Do You Do (2011)

The song A Long Time is Hawthorne's heartfelt tribute to the city of Detriot, the Ford Motor Company & Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. The song recalls some of the hopeful, socially conscious songs written by Curtis Mayfield in his prime.



The Walk is a breezy shuffle-time song that oozes the classic Philly soul sound of the early '70s.

I love him!

Hawthorne can do no wrong! You should check his 'secret' Tuxedo project too - couple of tracks still available for free download on Soundcloud I think...

Mayer Hawthorne is one of the best pop-soul musicians around. His first album A Strange Arrangement was decent but How Do You Do is slowly becoming my favorite. There is no way you could listen to a song like "The Walk" and not have to move with the music. Get those shoulders bouncing people! Where Does This Door Go, his latest album, is a little too mainstream R&B sounding for my taste. Not to say R&B is bad necessarily, but when you're used to hearing Hawthorne's fun, creative, poppy soul music, a mainstream sound that strays away from that is just a bit disappointing.

I agree, his brand new album is a big disappointment. It reminds me of the yacht rock music of Hall and Oates.

The reason why the album sounds so different is because he collaborated with alot of mainstream engineers, singers and producers. He also switched to another label. I think they were really trying to make him have more appeal with this album. I adore his previous albums. I figured his music would changed once he changed labels. I notice they tried to change his image as well.

Cover of new album
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...25352304_n.jpg

I've been meaning to get his latest album, I'll try not let the 'mainstream R&B sounding' comment above put me off! :)

I have been meaning to get around to picking his tracks apart, because knowing me, there will never be an entire album of anybody's I will ever like. Glad this was posted, forgot about him for a moment.

Great stuff Gavin, cheers.

Cool stuff, will check out further!