Maverick Sabre - These Days

It could have been Open Your Eyes, it should have been Open Your Eyes. When we first listened to Maverick Sabre's excellent Lonely Are The Brave, that was the one track that really stood out above all the rest, an enchanting, haunting gem of a song that really transcended above all the others. Still, as far as furthering the nice little niche he's cut out for himself with previous singles, new effort These Days follows the Maverick mold rather nicely indeed.

On These Days it's all a bit of a Bill Withers meets Massive Attack type affair, beautiful hiss and crackle bringing out all the gorgeous retro beauty in those soaring string sections and the jangly stabs of guitar. It's when those gospel undertones surge to the fore though that These Days is at its best, and while it's by no means Sabre's finest moment, it's perfectly indicative of the velour of quality and consistency that runs right through his excellent debut LP.

These Days is set for a July release date.

Maverick Sabre - I Used To Have It All

Recently I’ve seen a lot of commentary levelled at the likes of Maverick Sabre and Michael Kiwanuka for sounding ‘too much like the 70s’. But that’s no bad thing I’d say. I mean, we still play and love the great records of the era like we always did, so where’s the harm in trying to recreate those sounds? And in the smoky soft-shuffle hiss of Maverick’s I Used To Have It All, he does exactly that. Touching that hazy middle-ground between rap and singing he does so well, Maverick shoves on a load of uplifting brass and organ backing that is just so much the essence of some thirty years ago you feel you could reach out and touch that faded long-gone past. I Used To Have It All is beautiful, arrestingly moving and even verges into Bond theme territory at moments – hence, it’s all rather amazing. Hurrah for the 70s, we say!

I Used To Have It All is released on the 30^th April.

Maverick Sabre - Running Away

Of all the new singer-songwriters launching in the first quarter of this year, Maverick Sabre's debut feels like the record most apt in its ability to blend pop melodies with a sense of artistic consistency. Yes, Emeli Sande's effort might boast brilliant singles in the form of Heaven and Daddy, but when it comes to consistency, Maverick Sabre's wins hands down.

And Running Away stands as one of the best moments on the LP, certainly one of  the most commercially minded at any rate. And in Sabre's hands, that's no bad thing - it's an up-beat rollicking number of Northern Soul slapped up against jabs of guitar and lush string embellishments.

Whether as one of the many pieces that makes up Sabre's debut Lonely Are The Brave, or shot out at potential fans as a single, Running Away presents a proper songwriting talent in their element.

Maverick Sabre - No One

Already set up as one of the most anticipated album releases of early 2012, Maverick Sabre's debut LP Lonely Are The Brave looks set to follow in the footsteps of Plan B and put itself forward as a classy joint of smoky retro flavours.

Looking to the 70s mod-ish swagger in its shuffling guitar step-beat, new single No One wraps itself up in a decadent, grandiose string section - if it had come a couple of years ago you'd be forgiven for thinking it was the latest cut from Mark Ronson's Version project.


No One is not the synthetic, rap-laced aesthetic stuff of Sabre's brilliant The Lost Words EP, but it stands as a fitting representative of the versatility that will no-doubt characterise the album-proper.

Striking for a more sombre, reflective tone than his previous two singles, it nevertheless makes for a natural continuation of the Maverick Sabre 'gentlemen's pop' brand. With collaborator Professor Green recently scoring a Number 1 single, the gauntlet is laid down for Sabre to make his own grasp for stardom.

No One is released on the 6th February.