Alex Maxwell, a young singer-songwriter who happens to be the first British artist signed to Disney's Hollywood Records, has two EPs under her belt and a third on the way. The Madrid-based artist has been compared to Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks: two iconic female performers who presented unique ideas of feminine vulnerability, mysticism and strength. Maxwell's whispery singing style and delicate soprano are more similar to Bush's, but she lacks the British icon's penchant for eccentric theatricality and melodrama. The songs she has released thus far - "Letting You Know", "Lie to Me", "No Flight", "Signs" - are more line with the spirit of Nicks' simultaneous embrace of the agonies of heartbreak and its potential for life-affirming and optimistic personal transformation.
"Let Go", the first taste of her upcoming third EP, has Maxwell singing in a breathier style. The accompanying music video, which features ravishing close-ups of various fruits, glitter, a popsicle, lipstick, whipped cream, and colourful, body-drenching paint, alludes to the hedonic, unbridled sensuality that Maxwell alludes to in the song's hook: 'Losing the fear as I let go/ Oh oh oh oh/ Oh oh oh oh'. On closer inspection, Maxwell proves to be singing about the denouement, and not the climax, of a romantic relationship. She whispers 'dreaming wasn't easy' and reveals herself to be 'dancing to the heartbreak'. As with "Drive", the song's electro-pop production insists on a persistent momentum, keeping the song's emotional trajectory rooted in the path ahead as Maxwell's voice escalates into alluring higher registers while her lyricism retains its introspective focus. If only the loss of control over what happens to your heart could always be this seductive and rewarding.
