It’d be no understatement to say that a lot rested on Mayer Hawthorne’s debut album “A Strange Arrangement” (released on Peanut Butter Wolf’s venerable Stones Throw imprint). After having his single “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” spin relentlessly on every FM dial from Barcelona to Boston, the soul-savvy white boy, a multi-instrumentalist and self-professed vinyl junkie, has taken the music world by storm with a first album which makes good his long-standing love affair with the Motor City’s soul and jazz heritage. Think Smokey Robinson and J Dilla’s musical compositions, laced with Isaac Hayes’ high-pitchness and backed by The Temptations and there you have it: Mr Hawthorne’s good vibe sound. Don’t be surpised if the neighbourhood starts hand-clapping in unison once you start bumping this one out of stereo.

Photography Yassin Serghini

Here’s a short interview/interlude of the man himself, conducted by our man Alex over at on-point.be

Mayer Hawthorne doing it Barbershop style, dug out by Alex (again and again)

And to round things of nicely, the video to this sumer’s hit, “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”