On November 10, 2023, AJR both broke and put back together their audience with only one thing: their new album, “The Maybe Man.” This album explored the highs and lows of life, focusing on the topics of mental health and grief, while also maintaining AJR’s carefree style.
AJR is a band of three brothers, Adam, Jack and Ryan Met. They started out as a tap dancing trio, but eventually moved into making music, recording initially in their bedroom. Adam, the oldest brother, is the bassist and also has a Ph.D. in the topics regarding International Human Rights Law. He uses his degree to advocate for climate change and teaches at universities when he is not touring with the band. Ryan Met is the middle brother who plays piano and does most of the mixing on the band’s albums. Ryan runs several breakdowns both at concerts and online, describing the process of how the band’s raw audio tracks and samples are turned into a completed song. Jack is the youngest brother and is also the face of the band, as the lead singer. Jack also plays guitar and various other instruments, and is additionally known for his signature hat.
“The Maybe Man” was written over a very influential time period for the three brothers. They found out they had been stolen from by their manager (resulting in the song “Touchy Feely Fool”), Ryan got engaged (resulting in the song “Turning Out Part III”) and their father died (resulting in the song “God is Really Real”). Because of this, the album is much more serious than the band’s previous albums. However, the album has been a huge success in part because of its vulnerability. The idea in “The Maybe Man,” the first song of the album, is discovering who they are. Deep down, most people struggle with that,no matter how far along they are in life.
The band uses their usual instrumentation, including piano, guitar, bass, trumpet, violin and various electronic instruments. There are also several layered vocal lines, often creating beautiful harmonies to the main melody lines. These harmonies are typically major, often contradicting the lyrics to the song. These different vocal lines allow the significance of certain moments to shine through, but also allows the audio to decrease for a raw and emotional effect on the audience. An example of this is in “God is Really Real,” where Jack ends the song by saying he’ll sing for his dad when he gets out of bed. (Spoiler alert: his dad did not get out of bed.) There are several other instances on the album where this technique is used.
One of the most popular songs from “The Maybe Man,” “Inertia,” uses its musical elements to emphasize the lyrical meaning. The song talks about moving forward in life, saying that “where I am [he is] going is right where I am [he is].” Basically, Jack is singing about time moving forward despite many aspects in life not moving alongside it. The music’s 6/8 time signature gives it an extra push which causes the off beats to be emphasized as a fall from the main ones, much like how Jack describes being stuck in various positions in life. On their TikTok page, the band posted that they were extremely close to cutting “Inertia” from the album entirely.
“The Maybe Man” describes in forty-four minutes what most wouldn’t be able to in a lifetime. At least one song in there will speak to anyone. This album may break you, but you’ll feel wonderful as it puts you back together again.
Phot Credits: IMDb
