''Embrya'' is the second
studio album by American recording artist
Maxwell
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage o ...
, released on June 30, 1998, by
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. As on his 1996 debut album ''
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
''Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite'' is the debut album by American R&B singer-songwriter Maxwell. It was recorded in 1994 and 1995, then released on April 2, 1996, by Columbia Records.
Maxwell largely wrote and produced the album himself, recording ...
'', he collaborated with record producer and
Sade
Sade may refer to:
People
* Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine
* Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band
* Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WA ...
collaborator
Stuart Matthewman
Stuart Colin Matthewman (born 18 August 1960), also known as Cottonbelly, is an English songwriter, record producer and musician. With Sade Adu, Paul S. Denman, and Andrew Hale, he gained worldwide fame as the guitarist/saxophonist of the band S ...
. A
neo soul
Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contem ...
album, ''Embrya'' features heavy basslines, string arrangements, and an emphasis on
groove
Groove or Grooves may refer to:
Music
* Groove (music)
* Groove (drumming)
* The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s
* The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station
* Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station
* ...
over melodies. It has themes of love and spirituality.
''Embrya'' sold more than one million copies and garnered Maxwell a new
alternative fanbase, but confounded urban consumers and was not well received by most critics.
The album was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA).
Background
With a lesser jazz emphasis than his debut album, ''Embrya'' continues the trend towards heavy basslines and string arrangements, and it focuses on themes such as love and spirituality. However, the album features more of an emphasis on groove than melodies.
Its production sound contains bassy, electronic and slight syncopated beats.
Maxwell has defined the album's title as "an approaching growing transition thought to be contained but destined for broader perception."
Critical reception
''Embrya'' was originally received unfavorably by most critics.
In the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'',
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
wrote that the record "functions primarily as background music, sustaining its contemplative tone and percolating groove almost too well".
Ann Powers
Ann K. Powers (born February 4, 1964) is an American writer and pop music critic. She is a music critic for NPR and a contributor at the ''Los Angeles Times'', where she was previously chief pop critic. She has also served as pop critic at ''The ...
of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called Maxwell "an expert seducer" and the music "the aural equivalent of lotion rubbed on one's back by someone interesting", but believed the lyrics lacked substance.
[Powers, Ann]
Review: ''Embrya''
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Retrieved on 2009-09-24. Greg Tate
Gregory Stephen Tate (October 14, 1957December 7, 2021) was an American writer, musician, and producer. A long-time critic for ''The Village Voice'', Tate focused particularly on African-American music and culture, helping to establish hip-ho ...
wrote in ''
Spin'' that the album "comes off as a tad
New Agey,
art-rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ...
pretentious, emotionally calculated, and sappy."
Dream Hampton
Dream Hampton (stylized as dream hampton) is an American filmmaker, producer, and writer. Her work includes the 2019 Lifetime documentary series ''Surviving R. Kelly'', which she executive produced, and the 2012 '' An Oversimplification of Her B ...
, writing in ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'', said that the "listless and unfocused" songwriting does not redeem the "ridiculous, loaded song titles" and found the music "lazy": "The band drones along as if in some somnambulant session that never ends."
[Hampton, Dream]
Review: ''Embrya''
''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
''. Retrieved on 2009-09-24. In ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'',
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
cited "Luxure: Cococure" as a "choice cut",
indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
deemed ''Embrya'' "a bit of a sophomore stumble, albeit one with promising moments", while writing in
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
, "
axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angell ...
overstuffs his songs with ideas that lead nowhere".
In ''
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...
'' (2004), Arion Berger found the songs monotonous and called the album "unfocused and pretentious ... full of overwrought, underwritten songs with obscure, fancy titles revolving around a sort of sexual
gnosticism
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Judaism, Jewish and Early Christianity, early Christian sects. These ...
."
In a positive review, Connie Johnson from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' viewed Maxwell's music as unique and the album as an improvement from his debut album, which was "somewhat derivative".
Rob Sheffield
Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author.
He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at ''Blen ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' magazine complimented its lush musical backdrops and found the songs "pretty wonderful, even though they're impossible to tell apart or to remember after they're done."
David Browne, writing in ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cult ...
'', called the album "beautiful R&B background music" and felt that, despite vague and pretentious lyrics, it serves as "the culmination of the retro-soul movement that began taking shape several years ago."
Amy Linden of ''
Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production ...
'' called it "neo-soul via ambience" and said that "like smoke, Maxwell's love songs drift away, fading ever so seductively into the background, where they stay."
[Linden, Amy.]
Review: ''Embrya''
. ''Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production ...
'': 153–154. August 1998. Critics have since reappraised ''Embrya'' as a groundbreaking forerunner to later trends in
Alternative R&B
Alternative R&B (also referred to as alt-R&B, indie R&B, hipster R&B, dark R&B, emo R&B and left-field R&B) is a term used by music journalists to describe a stylistic alternative to contemporary R&B that began in the mid 2000s and came to prom ...
, and Columbia Records reissued the album in 2018 on its 20th Anniversary. ''Embrya'' was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best R&B Album
The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the R&B music genre. Honors ...
, losing to
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...
's ''
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'' is a neo soul and R&B albu ...
'' (1998).
[Erykah Badu sweeps Soul Train Awards](_blank)
''rollingstone.com'' March 3, 1998 In 1999, it won the
Soul Train Music Award
The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national broadcast syndication, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of ''Soul Train'', the pr ...
for Best Male Soul/R&B Album.
Commercial performance
''Embrya'' was released on June 10, 1998.
It sold more than one million copies and garnered Maxwell a new
alternative fanbase, but confounded urban consumers.
On May 26, 1999, the album was certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA).
Track listing
Notes:
*"Gestation: Mythos" on initial CD pressings is a
pregap
The pregap on a Red Book audio CD is the portion of the audio track that precedes "index 01" for a given track in the table of contents (TOC). The pregap ("index 00") is typically two seconds long and usually, but not always, contains silence. Po ...
track, later pressings include it as track 1, thus pushing the other track numbers forward by one. A 2019 remaster approved by Maxwell places the track at the end of the album.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
.
* Gloria Agostini – harp
* Chris Apostle – production coordination
* Carl Carter – bass
*
Tom Coyne – mastering
*
Clark Gayton
Clark Gayton is an American multi-instrumentalist, musician, composer and musicians' rights advocate.
Biography
Born as Carver Clark Gayton Jr. to Carver Clark Gayton and Mona Marie Lombard, Clark Gayton is a professional musician (trombone, ...
– trombone
* Kerry Griffin – drums
* Lisa Guastella – production coordination assistant
* Russell Gunn – trumpet
* Reggie Hamilton – bass, nylon-string guitar
*
Bashiri Johnson
Bashiri Johnson (born May 12, 1955) is a New York City-based percussionist, whose work has appeared on many records, as well as in commercials, films, television, videogames, and concert performances. He is known to be one of the most recorded ...
– percussion
* Gene Lake – drums
* Glen Marchese – engineer, mixing
*
Stuart Matthewman
Stuart Colin Matthewman (born 18 August 1960), also known as Cottonbelly, is an English songwriter, record producer and musician. With Sade Adu, Paul S. Denman, and Andrew Hale, he gained worldwide fame as the guitarist/saxophonist of the band S ...
– beats, guitar, mixing, producer, programming, baritone saxophone
*
Maxwell
Maxwell may refer to:
People
* Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist
* Justice Maxwell (disambiguation)
* Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage o ...
– beats, engineer, horn arrangements, mixing, producer, vocals
* Greg Moore – guitar
*
Mike Pela – associate producer, mixing
* Julian Peploe – art direction
* Susan Poliacik – cello
* Matthew Raimondi – violin
* Andrew Richardson – stylist
* Daniel Sadownick – percussion
* Veronica Salas – viola
* Darrell Smith – beats, engineer, producer
* Mario Sorrenti – phjo
* Gerald Tarack – violin
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
1998 albums
Maxwell (musician) albums
Columbia Records albums