Strange Arrangement (Vinyl)

Mayer Hawthorne grew up just outside of Detroit, and vividly remembers, as a child, driving with his father and tuning the car radio in to the rich soul and jazz history the region provided. “Most of the best music ever made came out of Detroit,” claims the Ann Arbor-born and bred 30 year-old singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, who counts Isaac Hayes, Leroy Hutson, Mike Terry, and Barry White among his infuences, but draws the most inspiration from the music of Smokey Robinson, Curtis Mayfeld, and the legendary songwriting and production trio of Dozier, Holland, and Holland Jr. Hawthorne’s hanging-by-a-string falsetto and breakbeat production on his first recorded effort, the tender Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out, are simultaneously Smokey and J Dilla – equal parts The Tracks of My Tears and Fall in Love. “It’s soul,” he explains, “But it’s new.”

1. Prelude
2. A Strange Arrangement
3. Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out
4. Maybe So, Maybe No
5. Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’
6. I Wish It Would Rain
7. Make Her Mine
8. One Track Mind
9. The Ills
10. Shiny & New
11. Let Me Know
12. Green Eyed Love