SINGLE PREMIERE: Max Lawrence - 'Gasoline'

Following last year's debut EP Chlorophyll, an enticing blend of chamber pop, electronic and R&B, Max Lawrence is set to release his first single for 2020, Gasoline.

It sees Lawrence change tack a little, moving in a more dance-friendly but no less enterprising direction, with the Melbourne artist citing inspirations as broad-reaching as Peter Gabriel, Kevin Parker and FKA Twigs.

Lyrically Gasoline explores the instinct to hide psychic and spiritual cavities with gaudy bandaids.

"Gasoline is about our tendency to desperately distract ourselves from dark, existential thoughts through money and material possessions," Lawrence tells The Music. 

"All the while being in denial, convincing ourselves that we're happy in the end."

Combined with skittering Krautrock synths and drawn-out, woozy guitars, and Lawrence's sweeping falsetto, the track feels like bright, tight smile clamped down on immense existential anxiety. 

“The world is super confusing, so I write songs to try and understand my place amongst all the beauty and the chaos of it all, and with Gasoline I’m basically just asking what the point of it all is, and what I want out of my life, and coming up with no answers except for this relentless compulsion I have to make art.”