Max Bernstein and the sophisticated art rock grind of "Mirrors"

"Your wrist hangs over the kitchen sink / It's too loud. It's too loud / I can't hear a single thing you're saying / It's too loud. It's too loud..."

The dioramic drama of "Mirrors" by artist, creative mastermind Max Zara Bernstein (they / them), and the third single off of their upcoming album "Crossing Atlantic", does reflect of course but more like an artful spinning prism than a static mirror. There is a lot going on in this post rock / art rock extravaganza. There is more than just an air of sophistication within the progressive orchestrations but stacks of whimsy and shape shifting as well. If this is cinematic, and it surely is, the movie might be one that has to do with flesh and blood transformations, or stepping through portals, standing on other planes of existence. AND, the avant garde universe building makes sense given that Bernstein is not only a multi-instrumentalist but disciplined in so many creative endeavors, not only a highly regarded singer-songwriter / musician but also a filmmaker, performer, designer, conceptual artist, current Clinical Assistant Professor the Sidney Poitier New American Film School as well as well as an associate director for the Geometric Media Lab in the School of Arts Media and Engineering in the Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. I am not saying that Bernstein could not just write a simple piano or acoustic folk ballad but I can imagine that they could not but help but to add this or that until, well, you know. 

The alternative, sideways sense of composing extends to the poetic lyrics:

Why are knives rusting on the lawn?
Is this just what it feels like when ships sink at dawn?

Now your wounds are set a flame...
I'll show you mine. I'll show you mine.
A terrorist wants to crash the plane.
Hide the wine. Hide the wine.

Why are knives rusting on the lawn?
Is this just what it feels like when ships sink at dawn?

I am digging the glossy production that also feels gritty around the edges, the sonic prologue that give way to big falls of sound and even larger ascensions bolstered by percussive clicks, big swathes of sounds cutting through in obtuse ways, drones of sound that feel like something between fuzzy radio transmissions and strings. There always seems to be a push and pull between organica and electronica, between the obvious and curious. 

-Robb Donker Curtius

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.facebook.com/visiblemax

https://soundcloud.com/maxbernstein

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3EI7KhltVLxNppAiju0Opu

https://maxbernsteinmusic.bandcamp.com/track/zygomaticus-single

https://www.instagram.com/visiblemax/

https://maxbernsteinmusic.com/


Max Bernstein (they/them) was born in Buffalo, NY. They are a lifelong multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker, performer, designer and conceptual artist. They studied experimental film and video production, at the University at Buffalo, and film production and studio art at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They have worked and toured as a technical artist with the media-based theater company Wooster Group, and as a video and sound designer with Michelle Ellsworth, Kaki King, Cindy Kleine, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Sam Kim, Morgan Gould, Becca Blackwell, and Ondine Geary. In addition, they are one half of the piano harp duo Outlier, a founding member of media art performance group the Flinching Eye Collective, a video artist for Friends Of The Tank, drummer and video designer for the band Eupana, and composer and sound engineer at Tribal Studio. They are currently Clinical Assistant Professor the Sidney Poitier New American Film School as well as as associate director for the Geometric Media Lab in the School of Arts Media and Engineering in the Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

Max Bernstein (they, them), singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker, performer, designer and conceptual artist, "Mirrors", new album "Crossing Atlantic", New York, Arizona,