Maverick Sabre - Lonely Are the Brave Review

While the title of this debut album is certainly an astute, if elementary, observation, its contents can’t claim kinship with the sentiment. Not that anything here offends: throughout, our protagonist mixes not-so-gritty street tales with a fusion of pop-soul, rap and reggae tropes which tick myriad mainstream boxes. But with a chosen moniker like that, and such a statement-of-presumed-intent gracing the cover, one can’t help but come away from Lonely Are the Brave with slight chagrin holding position over lasting contentment.

Rather than stand out, the London-born (his place of birth, Stoke Newington, gets a mention on Sometimes) and County Wexford-raised Maverick Sabre is content to fit into established moulds. With Michael Kiwanuka a worthy winner of 2012’s BBC Sound Of, and a precedent set by the all-conquering concept-soul of Plan B, solo male singers recalling Withers and Wonder comprise a valuable commodity for majors looking for the best return on their advance cash. And Sabre – real name: Michael Stafford – slips easily between these two spearheads for contemporary Brit-soul on the smoother cuts contained herein, the likes of Shooting the Stars and These Days....full text Michael Stafford is a hard man to place. A Londoner raised in the south-east of Ireland, he crams reggae, no-holds-barred soul and jazzy hip-hop into his repertoire when he sings as Maverick Sabre. His slickly produced debut album seems precision-tooled for crossover success – the next single "No One" brazenly echoes Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" – but somehow it doesn't feel cynical. Stafford is closer in spirit to his tough-talking mentor Plan B than the likes of James Morrison, mercifully, and his views on police stop-and-search powers, for example, haven't been toned down to protect this album's considerable commercial appeal....full text Maverick Sabre once told me his music was soulful hip hop inspired acoustic music; and this month, after years of hard work, Mav finally released his debut studio album 'Lonely Are The Brave'; but has he accomplished his convoluted mix of genres successfully?
And the answer simply is yes. In a music industry that is being dominated by the likes of Adele and even still Amy Winehouse, Maverick has managed to produce an album that brings all the elements of jazz-like hip hop, urban street lyrics with an overpowering soulful touch.

The Irish-born Hackney singer songwriter has a unique voice that has already drawn many comparisons to Miss Winehouse, and after a quick listen of the album, it is easily to understand why. ...full text A unique singing voice is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, you're instantly recognisable and you make a brilliant guest feature on another artist's track. On the other, your distinct tones are bound to divide public opinion. Such has been the case for 21-year-old Michael Stafford aka Maverick Sabre, who, after featuring on cuts for Professor Green and Chase & Status, has sparked a minor debate amongst music lovers with his solo output.

But while his voice may sound part-Amy Winehouse, part-Daniel Merriweather, few could accuse him of leaning on others for his debut album. Drawing on his childhood, which started in Hackney and continued in Ireland, his first collection of self-penned tracks is both brutally opinionated and unnervingly honest. "I need sunshine/ I need angels/ I need something good," he mourns on lead cut 'I Need', conjuring up images of crumbling concrete tower blocks in today's "Broken Britain"....full text