Max Allen's Earthwalker is one of the most well-intentioned albums I've heard this year. Fans of mope and malaise, stay away, for Max Allen and his band travel along much different paths than you. Earthwalker is full of hopeful melodies and rhythms that beg to be driven to. A stunningly full-sounding trio, all of the band members are, for all intents and purposes, lifelong musicians. Their well-honed skills allow them to push the musical envelope within a finely-constructed framework of meaningful songs, constantly working your brain over with instrumental acrobatics but never stomping all over the song itself.
