Lonely Are The Brave

Strong sides of Maverick Sabre

Musician Michael Stafford, known under his stage name Maverick Sabre, is creating under conditions which seem very close to perfect. This young man who is only twenty years from his birth, an age catastrophically gentle for artists, gained an opportunity to release albums on a major label, write music that, no matter what, would be absorbed by the widest possible audience, and, despite the aforementioned, he is given complete self-expression liberty. Right, the Mercury Label management chose a risky policy of letting Michael to pen his lyrics beyond any standards or limitations. This is how, the beginning performer, born in England, came to combine in his music the roughness of old-school hip-hop with its urban and criminal stories, and sublimity of soul, which is possible thank to his outstanding vocal skills. Maverick Sabre’s debut long player, released under the title Lovely Are The Brave, met universal welcome. The record was indeed much-anticipated.

Two facets of one style

Maverick Sabre preferred to be on the safe side and opened the album with two songs which are known to many listeners and loved dearly already. Singles I Need, and Let Me Go are so different: the former is a low-tempo track with a great touch of sentimentality, and the latter is a energetic dance piece with luxury arrangements. It is a very efficient start that shows how broad Maverick Sabre’s style is. Further on the album, the musician will be balancing between rapping and soul-singing. The tracks leaning to pure spoken word have rather acute lyrics often dealing with social issues. For instance, on Shooting The Stars, the singer criticizes police forces for many cases of their powers being abused. On several occasions, he laid out in his hip-hop sagas tales of his childhood, a tough time when Michael moved to Ireland and faced a lot of troubles there as a little boy. You can learn about that from Memories, and Sometimes. Yet already now it feels that episodes where Maverick Sabre actually sings produce a stronger impression. One of the highlights demonstrating that are ballads I Used To Have It All, and I Don’t See The Sun.

Lonely Are The Brave conquers you with its sincerity and novelty

Lonely Are The Brave sounds not like a debut work by a young musician, but rather like another album from a respected and confident performer. It is all about the voice of Maverick Sabre who, as inexperienced as he is, delivers his material with amazing convincingness. Of course, part of the reason why he can do is that this is, to a large extent, an autobiographical record allowing the singer to know exactly what he is talking about. Furthermore, Maverick Sabre does not hesitate to express his point of view on problems which concern him as a musician and human being. No doubt, honesty and earnestness conquer listeners, who from time to time get too tired of too many shiny happy love stories or endless complaints about aching and broken hearts. To cut a long story short, Maverick Sabre offers the public a work in a genre where there has been a bad need for a fresh view and new memorable voice. This singer is lucky to have both.