Los Angeles-via-Ann Arbor multi-instrumentalist isn't your typical soul artist

Mayer Hawthorne could be the cleanest and newest looking record sandwiched between Issac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield at your local record shop. It sounds old, scratchy, and raw, like it's still 1972. The thing is, Mayer Hawthorne is actually a "29-year-old white kid from Ann Arbor."

Excerpt:

Los Angeles-via-Ann Arbor singer/DJ/producer/multi-instrumentalist Mayer Hawthorne basically does everything on A Strange Arrangement, his debut full-length for Stones Throw. He has a sort of throwback Detroit soul sound and cites Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Barry White, Leroy Hutson, Smoke Robinson, etc., as influences. It's smooth stuff that ought to be enjoyed by a wide demographic. Maybe the Strange in the album title comes from the fact that the somewhat nerdy Hawthorne isn't your usual soul crooner? As the copy at Stones Throw puts it:

Few expect such heartfelt sentiment to come from a 29-year-old white kid from Ann Arbor, but he has caught the ear of his family at Stones Throw, as well as BBC Radio 1 host Gilles Peterson and producer/DJ Mark Ronson.
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