Lawrence Maxwell has prepared some notes from the school of hard knocks and offers them up with some soft-spoken country in the hopes that you might better yourself without having to endure the experience. Or, more accurately, so that you don’t have to foolishly endure that experience more than once.
The two-time Music PEI Award-winner’s latest single, “Better You” is a gentle reminder that matters of the heart are best taken slowly. When things go sour, there are more than a million ways to find new variations of your past mistakes if you’re not prepared to spend a moment or two reflecting on them.
As Maxwell suggests, the message of the song is still open to interpretation, but the core of the story is about a man who “never could learn twice” and forms a habit of escaping the fallout of one relationship only through a bad series of cascade errors.
“Take it from the guy who never could learn twice that ‘she did me wrong’ drinkin’ songs don’t give the best advice,” he sings, throwing a bit of shade at one of the major tropes of the genre.
And, as Maxwell also suggests, the best thing for it is to sit things out for a bit. Maybe it’s just the commanding presence of Maxwell’s moustache—like a young Sam Elliott—that makes us want to believe whatever advice he has to offer, but he’s probably right.
“When we experience loss, we’re encouraged to grieve, but to do it fast,” says Lawrence. “The truth is, healing often takes more time than we anticipate. The ‘get back on that horse’ mentality paired with the allure of the nightlife can make it difficult to focus on self-improvement.”
The song, like many things over the last two years, is the product of free time, idle hands, and a collaboration between Lawrence Maxwell and fellow Prince Edward Island country musician Ben Chase. The pair took to co-writing during the downtime and brought in musicians Ben Aitken (keyboard), Josh Langille (drums), Isaac King (mandolin), Justyn Young (guitar), Rob MacPhee (backing vocal), and Sam Langille (bass) to round everything out.
“Better You,” along with the rest of Lawrence Maxwell’s upcoming third studio album, was recorded The Hill Sound Studio with producer and engineer Adam Gallant. The album is set for release in January 2022.