It's been one year and one week since Maal and Tom Richman released their album Grass (just before they graced the cover of Shuttlecock's first print issue). Now, while the Kansas City metro has spent its time bemoaning the latest snowstorm and hiding under its collective blanket, Maal has filmed and edited a music video for a new mini-song. "LNLY" is a melancholy piano composition, adorned only by the occasional whir of a synthesizer and Maal's voice. Its video was shot in an empty parking lot as snow flurries fell, creating a thin coat over the musician's red four-door. From behind the steering wheel, he sings about, as one could surmise, the feeling of loneliness. Though it's a theme as old as time, Maal sings about it in his trademark style: calm, but confident, and without using five-dollar words or bending over backwards to force a rhyme.
"LNLY" could very well just be a simple, heartfelt expression of a common emotion, but due to the humble nature of the video and the lyrics about the lack of attention he's paid, it seems that it could double as a reflection on the state of his career as an artist -- a decade deep in the game, clearly talented, yet still unable to pursue his passion full-time. Then again, I could be overthinking it. Nonetheless, the fact that Maal can offer a package so minimal yet so mesmerizing says something.
Watch the music video below.
Maal - "LNLY"
Reviewed by Aaron Rhodes
on
March 11, 2022
Rating: 5
No comments: