Saturday, April 11: A lot of elephants were in one room. Maya Hawke — most known for her role as Robin in Stranger Things, then looking like her very famous mother Uma Thurman and taking the name of her very famous father Ethan Hawke, then being a Wes Anderson starlet, and THEN having three released folk-ish singer-songwriter records and one on the way —played a set at the rocker-meets-experimental bar Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY, billing it as an “Evening With” her and her band. Minimal and acoustic instrumentation, a relaxed setlist, a back-and-forth between songs: her performance gave a fair shot to give the impression of a seasoned indie professional stepping back from the chaos of stadium tour life and “getting real” with their fans.
But, this gig was more parasocial than intimate. Sure, Hawke talked about her songs a lot, but she didn’t really say anything of note. Her band played nicely, but the songs all melted into one, indistinguishable, pleasant blur. Yet gawkers gawked anyway, howling “I LOVE YOU!” and struggling to jump in on the banter between the three people who actually know each other. This was an evening of pussyfooting: Maya Hawke was not here to talk about the biggest, most time-consuming, most interesting parts of her life, and how they come together to inform her music, and most of the audience did not want to acknowledge that they were not here to actually hear a stripped-back set of one of many folk records. They were here, more or less, to see Maya Hawke from Stranger Things.
Maya Hawke at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY by Bobby Nicholas Ⅲ
Plus, Hawke’s band kept the energy mellow just by the rich vibrations of a fiddle, the steady strum of acoustic guitars, and the crackling of a harmonica. The three performers sounded lovely, complemented by Hawke’s subtle rasp that could relax any fussy baby. During the songs, she could hold her own as a front woman, and she could effectively communicate the tenderness at the heart of each number. In general, the acoustic set was nice to get lost in; after a busy day in a bustling city, a gentle wind-down in the night was welcomed.
As a songwriter, Maya Hawke has put together a genuinely enticing record to promote. MAITREYA CORSO, her fourth studio record coming out May 1 via Mom+Pop, takes the listener on a journey from “want” to “have.” She drew most of the inspiration from her relationship with indie folk artist Christian Lee Huston, who she married this year and invited to play with her on tour. Beginning with “Love of My Life”, a honeyed track about realizing the excitement and potential of an enduring romance, the artist truly blossoms into someone capable of overcoming her fears. The next track “Devil You Know”, which Hawke explained as a song that embodied the original concept of combating the faux-glitziness of the Hollywood industry, has her fluttering through every disenchantment with a life she believed she always wanted, all before gaining confidence and security through love and personal connection. After an almost-psychedelic and cooling highlight like “Heavy Rain”, the record then ends with “Dream House”, an adorable ballad about building her life with Huston, preparing for the next chapter in her life, and ready to take on the world together. In these aspects, it’s clear Hawke has the capacity to dig into parts of herself the world hasn’t seen from her and channel them into goldmines of analysis. This entwining of a public life she was literally and figuratively born to have — knotted even further by this second career as a touring artist — with her relationship with a partner and herself, would distort her sense of self, her true “wants” from the easily accessible desires, her real “needs” from the superficial.
I walked away from the show unsure if Maya Hawke could easily put on a show like this had she not been Maya Hawke before this. It’s not her fault that the crowd certainly muddied the tranquility of the promised evening. She never once egged them on to jab at the band, saying they “loved” each one or thought they were “pretty” without knowing them at all. (Some of those voices were a little too deep and husky to be coming out of children’s bodies, by the way!) She never told people to obnoxiously wait in line for over an hour before doors opened, even though Baby’s is just a flat floor in the back of a bar. The fans just felt inclined to do all that anyway…Whatever, I was 16 and passionate about a celebrity once, too.
If we took away the context that bookends her lofty name, there would just be fine music. She deserves at least a little appreciation…I tried my best to give her that, but what saddens me is that just singer-songwriter Maya H, probably wouldn’t attract an insufferable line wrapped around the block.
words by Victoria Borlando
photography by Bobby Nicholas Ⅲ
Maya Hawke at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY by Bobby Nicholas Ⅲ
order tickets for Maya Hawke HERE