Maxwell Bryne of Golden Vessel talks his new album, his upcoming tour, and working with close friends

Brisbane native Maxwell Bryne and his electronic-meets-alt pop project Golden Vessel just released the third studio album in his already solid catalog.

everythingeverydayeverything has been long awaited by fans globally and it did everything but disappoint.The album features an all-star cast of friends such as Mallrat, FELIVAND, rei so la, Emerson Leif, and Akurei to name only a few, which makes for a super diverse and great listen.

eee is an introspective piece, stemming from second-guessing your beliefs and “rewiring your motivations in life”. Max explains how the last 2 years have led him to produce both a inward-thinking and emotional project:

“I started everythingeverydayeverything (eee) at the start of 2020, and at that time I had started to question a lot of things in my life. I was raised Christian and I regularly attended church, but during that time I’d started this long and difficult process of rethinking what I’d been taught and what I believed. It took about a year for me to go through that process and at the same time I was working on this music, so it really bled into what I was writing about.

Rethinking all this stuff is a really complex process and is quite an emotional time. Rewiring your motivations in life and leaving a community you grew up in is disorientating, and so I hope with this album anyone else going through something similar will know that they’re not alone. It’s been really nice to step out into life more and to have this album as a memento for that time”

The aspect of Golden Vessel I love the most is how he’s always able to make the music fit what he’s experiencing in any point in time. eee is heavily in the melancholic, down-tempo space, which matches Max’s complicated thoughts over the past years.

I got the opportunity to toss Max a few questions about the album, his upcoming tour, and what’s it’s like working with his friends.

Read through the full conversation with Max of Golden Vessel below.

Max – It’s great to chat with you! It’s been super neat following your catalog over the past few years. eee is now your third album, which lends itself to the question: what is 1 thing you’ve learned from SLOWSHINE all the way until now?

Oh too many things to list haha. I think I’ve learnt a lot of patience and durability. It feels like with every big body of work (like an album) there’s always things that don’t go to plan or hurdles and looking back at some of the setbacks with slowshine, they really threw me. But I think now with 3 albums under my belt I’ve gotten better at problem solving & rolling with the punches.

everythingeverdayeverthing is an intriguing title – what’s the meaning behind it? 

It’s something that my friend Rei So La sang which ended up becoming the chorus of the first single “eee”. The album is about me rethinking my beliefs/outlook of life and when you’re going through that it feels like a very 360 process, so those words seemed to encapsulate it perfectly.

I hate saying the word “favorite” out loud, but I keep coming back to the song “drugstore”. There’s something undemanding about the track… what was the premise behind this one?

Thanks! I wanted drugstore to be halfway between an interlude & a song, and I had been listening to a lot of the avalanches when I put it together. I love working with The Nicholas and when he sent back those vocals I liked them so much that I didn’t want to try force it to become a verse/chorus/verse/chorus type of song. 

What track on the project took you the longest/most effort to make? My guess is pretty random, but I’m going to say “so far” with FELIVAND for some reason. 

Quick was probably the hardest, it went through so many different versions. Also pockets full of rocks was a long process as well. So Far actually came together quite easily! You can never really call it, some just take longer.

You feature artists like Emerson Leif, Mallrat, Akurei, and rei so la on the album – all who you’ve worked with many times before. What about working with this group just clicks?

I think when I start a new project I’m looking for new people to work with but I just love the people that I collaborate with and I know they trust my vision and are open to try ideas (like collaging different parts together). I’m really lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people and I just want to keep making music with them

I understand you’re going on tour in only a matter of days- what are you most excited for?

Yeah! Excited to play some of these new songs and I’m also really excited by the merch that I made with Vissy, so will be nice to see people’s reaction to that

When do you think you’ll stop by the US (specifically Chicago) next?

I’m not sure unfortunately! It feels like the music industry is still grappling with covid and it has made international touring a bit of a pipe dream. Hopefully that changes soon though!

What personal belonging do you NEED to have with you when you go on tour?

Definitely headphones!

We can’t wait to see how your tour goes, Max. Best of luck and chat soon!

Thank you guys!

A BIG thank you to Max and Mammal Sounds for taking the time to chat with us. Be sure to give everythingeverydayeverything a spin and let us know what you think! Album below.