Music Review: Maverick Sabre's When I Wake Up
Photography by Anton Mak
Olivia Olphin reviews Maverick Sabre’s new album When I Wake Up and tells us why it is the album everyone should be listening to.
Maverick Sabre shot onto the music scene in 2012 with his honest, hard hitting album Lonely are the Brave, which peaked at number 2 in the UK album charts. Although he released another album Innerstanding in 2015, his music output has been relatively quiet, limited to duets with artists he admires, such as Jorja Smith and George the Poet. Like many artists before him, he has resisted the need to churn out album after album and capitalise on his initial lightning success.
Maverick Sabre’s voice is pure soul. His voice cracks and moves in a way that suggests he is double his age, with the gravitas of the old school legends such as Sam Cooke and the passion of Paolo Nutini. His lyrics cut deep into what it means to be connected to each other. His appeal is wide reaching with influences ranging from Jazz, Soul, Grime and Rap. The new Album When I Wake Up is the album we need right now. The lyrics are truthful and poignant, such as the politically charged song “Guns in the Distance”, that asks why there’s “no money, no doctors for patients/ always money for bombs and not payslips”, and which Maverick often cites when talking about issues close to his heart, such as the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.
The Grooves on '“Into Nirvana” and “Drifting” are the perfect mix of casual and stylish and the heart-breaking “Her Grace” is an album highlight. Maverick isn’t afraid of dealing with current issues such as mental health and knife crime in London. In “Big Smoke” he sings “Another young man got stabbed on the pavement/ then another young man never made it to the station/ Tell his mother where she’s waiting.” There are real people at the heart of this album, this is not another compilation CD about teenage love or money. It is a carefully curated album written by someone passionate about the city where they live and the people they meet.
Maverick sings that he is “falling into hope” and although the tone of this album is powerful and serious, there is positivity at the end. Perhaps we all need to give hope another try. The final song “Glory” is an uplifting promise of what could be if we start listening to each other, with Maverick insisting “I know better days will come/ so I try to believe”. The folk tone of this song brings his Irish roots to an album centred around the urban city, for a glorious mix of styles that end the album on a high.
There are few popular artists who are talking about the real issues of today. In the charts we have easy-listening, sterile pop music, with overproduced beats and cookie cutter videos, where all you think is, “haven’t I heard this one before?” I want music to punch me in the gut and make me feel something, and this is what Maverick Sabre achieves. Although he may not be achieving the same quick success as his first album, this is a record that will stay with you long after you listen to it and an album calling for acceptance and change in a divided modern Britain.