To call Mac Ayres’ debut EP,Drive Slow, bedroom music would seem limiting, but to not give the R&B singer credit for his perfectly crafted late-night mood music would be simply unfair. On his ten-track project, the Long Island, NY singer’s voice is purely meditative, lending his listeners no choice but to glide into a trance.
Drive Slow, released in August, is a strong project — and a vulnerable one, at that. Channeling influence from D’Angelo’s Voodoo, which he discovered only a few years ago at Berklee College of Music, Ayres emulates the ‘90s icon’s knack for effortlessly smooth, time-altering sounds. And this makes sense for Drive Slow, an EP not just fit for romance but for those rare moments of phone down, computer off relaxation.
“The concept of Drive Slow is supposed to be that people are not driving slow through life,” Ayres tells TIDAL. “Nobody’s stopping to smell the roses.”
So long as he keeps putting his soulful, jazzy voice and keyboard combo to work, Mac Ayres will keep making us stop in our tracks. Below, the rising R&B act talks about the making of Drive Slow, his love of performing and the time in his life when he “really wanted to be like John Mayer.”
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Tell me about yourself. When did you start getting into music? what was your upbringing like?
I’m from Long Island. How do you download solidworks on mac. A small, one-square mile village called Sea Cliff. I come from a non-musical family, but my mom bought me a keyboard when I was 11, and I sat at it for the next nine years. And here we are.
Was it a daily routine for you?
It was less of a routine than like, ‘Oh I have to practice piano.’ When I got home from school, I didn’t want to do anything else. I just sat in front of it and hashed it all out myself.
When did the singing come into play?
The singing has always been there. Since I was a baby, I’ve been singing. I’m loud.
I remember my music teacher in second grade called my house and was like, ‘This little boy is singing really loud in front of his class. I think he can sing.’ I feel like I’ve been singing forever.
Tell me a little bit about your new EP, Drive Slow, and anything else you have in the works. Free download civilization 6 mac.
Drive Slow is a collection of tunes from the past year of my life. I lived in Boston for most of last year. I was at Berklee [College of Music] but I left. The concept of Drive Slow is supposed to be that people are not driving slow through life. Nobody’s stopping to smell the roses. The way a lot of the tunes that were made were just me in my bedroom. There was no real [feeling of] ‘Get in the studio and come up with a project.’
Has this always been your sound?
Definitely not. When I first got into songwriting, I was 17, and I really wanted to be like John Mayer. I wanted to play guitar. I wanted to make faces on stage when I played songs. Then, my freshman year of college, my friend, Zach, showed me D’Angelo. The first album was Voodoo, the songs ‘Playa Playa‘ or ‘Left and Right.’ I was not exposed to anything like that before. I mean, I’m from Long Island. Everybody listens to Billy Joel.
Growing up in a small town, did that have any influence on your music or did you go into your own world and create your own excitement?
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Coming from a small town, I got the opportunity to perform a lot, playing at restaurants around town instead of getting a summer job. https://newdiva450.weebly.com/blog/how-to-download-gacha-life-on-mac. It doesn’t really change my creative process, though.
What’s next?
More tunes always. I’m always writing, I never take a break from that stuff. Just tryna play more shows, trying to get out there in the world a little bit instead of at my desk. It’s tough because I really really care about the music. It’s hard for me to be like ‘an artist’ and put on a face a bit.
How is performing for you? https://newdiva450.weebly.com/blog/company-of-heroes-2-download-ita-mac. Free download indesign cs6 for mac.
I have a great time performing. I’ve been playing at little clubs ever since I got that keyboard when I was 11. I feel like I’ve been doing it a long time, so it’s not a big deal. https://newdiva450.weebly.com/blog/check-point-endpoint-security-vpn-download-mac.
Do you prefer the performing and music-making to the branding and all that?
Yeah, I’d rather be at a studio session than a photoshoot. I just really care about the things I really care about, you know. If the other stuff comes with being able to have my own creative control, then I’m down. I’m not trying to be anybody that I’m not. Basketball shorts and all. Just tell people to come to the show and they can come if they want.
On his debut EP, Drive Slow, New York native Mac Ayres shows an emotional maturity far beyond his years, baring his soul through a journey of love and loss, while showcasing strikingly varied musicianship. The singer, songwriter, and producer released the EP in August last year to widespread acclaim, and it is easy to see why. Mac’s sound bridges RnB, soul, hip hop, and jazz into something uniquely his own, and his style lends itself perfectly to the content of the EP. For such a relative newcomer, Mac plays on the topic of young love with remarkable sensitivity, both emotional and musical, and expresses his personal plight in a way which resonates with his audience.
Drive Slow Album Download Bandcamp Mac Ayres Version
Drive Slow begins with a sample of a phone call from Mac’s grandmother wishing him a happy 20th birthday. The warmth of his grandmother’s voice is backed by tinkering, syncopated keys and a slow snare, with the opening few seconds coalescing the innocence of youth and the blissful naivety of old age. However, the opening is somewhat misleading. The second track, Calvin’s Joint, immediately sets itself up in opposition to the intro, as familial well-wishing is replaced by lovesickness and a resolve for change. ‘Have I ever told you that I spend my evenings howling to the moon?’, Mac croons to the now minor key piano and skeletal drums. It is this second track, not the first, which sets the themes for the EP; love, regret, and the search for peace of mind are recurrent themes throughout.
However, this album is not simply thirty minutes of adolescent angst and self-pity at a love scorned. Love, Mac is trying to say, is a journey with ecstatic highs and mournful lows. ‘The Devil’s In The Detail’ exposes the hopeful uncertainty of love, as the glimmering vocals weave seamlessly with the throbbing bassline, in a manner reminiscent of Childish Gambino’s Redbone. Mac’s confidence grows as the album comes towards its midpoint. Following on from the sensual Slow Down, Mac playfully flirts with his listeners; ‘Gimme slow, but not that slow,’ he murmurs softly, only for us to hear him starting up his van, as he and Innanet James begin their joint feature.
This growing confidence leads into the highlight of the album, Show Me. The combination of the thrusting bass, provocative percussion and teasing keys adds a real suggestive quality to the track, while sonically this is the best representation of the musical niche that Mac has formed for himself; he cites Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, and J Dilla as some of his major influences, and we can hear aspects of all three here. Mac is truly in his element, as he serenades an unnamed lover over the nonchalant bass. But if this is the climax of love then the comedown arrives almost instantly. The penultimate two tracks focus on a more melancholic, reflective note, as Mac laments, ‘I put all my cards out on the table, you ain’t ever gonna show your hand’. There is an emotional rawness and vulnerability as the album comes to its close, culminating in the haunting finale, Change Ya Mind. We end the EP on an undeniably human note of regret; a far cry from the vitality of earlier on.
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On first listening, Drive Slow may seem somewhat contradictory. Love is the theme, but there is little consistency in the way in which Mac deals with the wider subject. The EP is a whirlwind of emotion, as we move from innocence, through confidence, to hesitance and regret, all within the comparatively short space of 32 minutes. We barely get a chance to catch our breath before we are plunged into the next stage of Mac’s personal expression. And this is exactly the point. The tumultuous nature of young love is faithfully embodied by the twisting and turning structure of the EP, and we experience the fickleness of passion as we move swiftly from one track to the next.
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As we move through the album, we might expect a growing sense of maturation, of learning from mistakes, of a more adult cynicism; but such progress isn’t forthcoming. Indeed, a comparison of our first and last impressions of Mac, on Calvin’s Joint and Change Ya Mind respectively, is telling. He begins the EP repeating the accusation of a previous lover that he had changed but he himself ends the EP trying to change the mind of another. The first line we hear from the singer states his reluctance to ‘wake up’ and this regret is repeated in the last verse. He unsuccessfully pursues peace of mind in both tracks. Somewhat surprisingly, despite the emotional journey, we end up right back where we started. Looking for some kind of moral to take away, one might see this as a warning; love may take you to soaring heights, but it has the power to take everything away in an instant. This sentiment may well be true but, throughout the album, we find no sense of anger or bitterness; simply acceptance that this is a journey we all must go through. And since we cannot change our path, we may as well take Mac’s advice: to enjoy the ride and drive slow.
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