By RJ Steele

Old fans will feel at home in the familiar, funky, blues and hip-hop inspired sound of Max Frost’s debut album Gold Rush.

My first introduction to Max Frost’s music was in 2016 when a friend suggested I give a listen to his first EP Low High Low. Though I was initially a bit perplexed by his unique style, I was drawn in pretty quickly by the bouncy and upbeat nature of his music. Ever since then, I have been a huge fan of his work, listening to everything he has released. His other works have included another EP titled Intoxication, several collaborative tracks with artists such as DJ Snake and St. Albion. Most recently, he has experienced a noticeable growth in his following and fan base as he has been touring as an opener for a variety of some very widely known bands and musicians.

This brings us to the subject of this review. At midnight on October 5^th,Frost released his first full length album, titled Gold Rush. The album’s cover, depicting Frost lounging lazily across an ornate armchair does, in essence, provide the listener with a general idea of what they should expect to hear: laid back music with enough funk to put a bit of bounce in anyone’s step. That is, of course, an oversimplification as the music in Gold Rush is actually incredibly varied with everything from some tracks that show a new, more somber side of Frost such as “Eleven Days” and “Stranger To Me,” to some that would find a comfortable place in almost anyone’s party mix, “Good Morning” and “Money Problems” being my personal favourites for this particular role.

Going into this album, I was, in all honesty, a bit nervous. Sometimes when an artist makes the transition from Ep to full length album their music in some way suffers. In that way, I was worried that Frost would sacrifice the bouncy sound that made his last works so great and made him, well, him. But rest assured that all fans of Frost’s previous works will find themselves reveling in these all-new tunes that are still distinctly reminiscent of Frost’s previous stuff, some of the best examples being “A$$hole” and “Anxious,” which have a similar feel to some of the tracks off Intoxication.

Long story short: Gold Rush provides us with a selection of all new music which shows us a side of Frost that we haven’t seen before. It also gives us a whole load of stuff that fits perfectly with some of his older work. For long-time fans, Gold Rush will serve as a welcome addition to Frost’s previous discography and a great reminder of why they first fell in love with his music, and for those who have never heard his music, I would simply recommend they allow Gold Rush to be a charming and easy introduction to the funk-filled world of Max Frost.