Maya Hawke Puts Forth the Most Honest Version of Herself in 'Chaos Angel'
Photo: Trevor Tweeten
Known for her soft-spoken but cynical sophistication, Maya Hawke’s latest album, Chaos Angel is the truest pinnacle of the musician and actor’s artistry.
Chaos Angel opens with “Black Ice,” setting the mood through brushed percussion and cyclically picked chords. It’s inviting in the same way that early 2000s twee style and 500 Days of Summer feel nostalgic; it’s endearing and romantic. Hawke sings in repetition, “Give up and be loved,” and the gentle ache of the album unfurls.
Lead single “Missing Out” reaches new heights for Hawke’s musical exploration. Amongst the twangs of country slide guitar and American drum patterns are otherworldly synths, introducing a new color to her genre spectrum. The contrast between the folk foundation and experimental pop production is alluring, revealing yet another shade of Hawke’s artistic palette. A latter track, “Okay,” weaves non-musical samples into the arrangement, turning the possible crunch of shattering ceramic into percussion. Then, the track shifts from distorted indie guitar solos into a dreamscape of orchestral flourishes. The instruments lean into a slight chromaticism, never letting the romanticism flatten Hawke’s quirky edge.
There’s extra intrigue within the vocals in “Missing Out,” wherein the delivery stays light and close, but the manner in which producer Christian Lee Hutson layers them simulates a fullness. “Better” is a striking antithesis, featuring hyper-autotuned vocals in an adventurous acapella interlude. It’s like an electronic cousin of "White Winter Hymnal," interlocking complex vocals with synthetic effects. “Dark” showcases a moment of vocal delicacy, where Hawke sings impossibly near to the microphone, adopting an unabashed rawness in the performance. It’s the perfect medium to deliver the satisfying flow of the lyrics, “You leave your body just one more ice cream scoop out of your brain / pink matter, dark matter, glass shatter, corporate ladder, cake batter splatter."
Hawke’s lyrical perspective shines across this album, imagining cinematic spaces for her stories to be told. “Wrong Again” sets listeners in an arcade, where we’re convincing ourselves to make a move within the mundane of tokens and video games. It’s the youthfulness of this scenery that sells the song; Hawke demonstrates to us while she tells us that it will truly be okay if we’re “wrong again.” “Hang In There” is a classic folk ballad in sound, but touches an earnest topic, offering a lullaby of a pep talk for a friend, stranger, or maybe herself.
Closing out the album is “Promise,” a whimsical rumination of a final track. Hawke is cynical yet soft in her introspection here, in both sound and lyric: “The angel’s bow and arrow is a pebble and a slingshot,” she sings.
Chaos Angel is a declaration of artistic perspective for Maya Hawke, further grounding the multidimensional vision already known and appreciated by the musician, actress, and writer. Endearing and intelligent, this album has a vision, and Hawke has put forth the most honest version of herself while portraying it.
Listen to Chaos Angel below:
