Embrya is the second studio album by American recording artist Maxwell, released on June 30, 1998, by Columbia Records. As on his 1996 debut album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, he collaborated with record producer and Sade member Stuart Matthewman. A neo soul album, Embrya features heavy basslines, string arrangements, and an emphasis on groove over melodies. It has themes of love and spirituality.
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."
[Harrington, Richard. Maxwell's `Embrya,' In the Mood for Love. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2009-03-30.]
Critical reception
Embrya was originally received unfavorably by many critics.
In the
Chicago Tribune,
Greg Kot wrote that the record "functions primarily as background music, sustaining its contemplative tone and percolating groove almost too well".
of
The New York Times 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. Retrieved on 2009-09-24.] Greg Tate wrote in
Spin that the album "comes off as a tad
New-age music,
art rock pretentious, emotionally calculated, and sappy."
, writing in
The Village Voice, 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. Retrieved on 2009-09-24.] In
The Village Voice,
Robert Christgau 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 deemed
Embrya "a bit of a sophomore stumble, albeit one with promising moments", while writing in
AllMusic, "Maxwell overstuffs his songs with ideas that lead nowhere".
In
(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Arion Berger assigned the album two stars out of five, and 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."
In a positive review, Connie Johnson from the Los Angeles Times viewed Maxwell's music as unique and the album as an improvement from his debut album, which was "somewhat derivative".[Linden, Amy. " Review: Embrya". Vibe: 153–154. August 1998.] Critics have since reappraised Embrya as a groundbreaking forerunner to later trends in Alternative R&B, and Columbia Records reissued the album in 2018 on its 20th anniversary.[ Erykah Badu sweeps Soul Train Awards rollingstone.com March 3, 1998] In 1999, it won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Male Soul/R&B Album.[ 14th Annual Soul Train Award Winners allyourtv.com/awards/ March 6, 2000]
In 2024, Uncut ranked the album at number 110 in their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of the 1990s", describing it as a "mighty smooth" record inspired by the "progressive soul works" of Marvin Gaye and D'Angelo and writing that "the result is more distinct and enduring than was reckoned at the time."
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 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Track listing
Notes:
-
"Gestation: Mythos" on initial CD pressings is a pregap 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.
-
Gloria Agostini – harp
-
Chris Apostle – production coordination
-
Carl Carter – bass
-
Tom Coyne – mastering
-
Clark Gayton – trombone
-
Kerry Griffin – drums
-
Lisa Guastella – production coordination assistant
-
Russell Gunn – trumpet
-
Reggie Hamilton – bass, nylon-string guitar
-
Bashiri Johnson – percussion
-
Gene Lake – drums
-
Glen Marchese – engineer, mixing
-
Stuart Matthewman – beats, guitar, mixing, producer, programming, baritone saxophone
-
Maxwell – 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
Bibliography
External links
