Mykele Deville’s New Album Maintain, Out This Friday

Photo Credit: Zakkiyyah Najeebah

Subject to the whims of whiteness, want to touch the sky but I’m told I’m flightless. How much time do I get to fight this. Peaking through the blinds, is it safe to write this?

In November, spoken word poet Mykele Deville released a stunning music video for “Type Love,” which showcases vulnerability and self-love as a way to speak out against misconceptions of black life. It exposes the deeper issue within communities that often leaves no space for men— particularly black men— to expressively explore, value, and unveil themselves. In short, the themes in “Type Love” beautifully expose masculine tenderness and offer a space of quiet tranquility.

Deville released his previous full-length record, Peace, Fam, in early 2017, and now comes back at us with a follow up album to continue the conversation and expand upon his contemplative new single. Maintain, set to release on Friday, comes as a raw, all-encompassing portrait of the modern black experience. As Deville describes it, the album is a “map of black preservation,” with seven tracks guiding listeners through a viscerally fervent and touching experience within his palpable reality.

Outside of Maintain and Peace, Fam, he’s released two other albums full of deeply personal anecdotes and stories. His previous work is just as thought provoking, yet his style has changed from minimally produced simple beats and a crisp voice on tracks like “Go Away” off Super Predator, to a more full-bodied sound that not only thrusts his lyrics forward, but also enriches them. Maintain still manages to keep a pure simplicity— at the very root, Deville is a poised poet, carefully planning his words with powerful images that continue to stand on their own. The cadence of his voice and words are the heart of his creations.

Maintain comes as a pillar in the racial equality movement pulsing through Chicago and the rest of the country. Deville navigates the delicate balance of honest lyrics with emotion, while keeping the level headedness of one who knows all too well what his critics will say. Just as it’s a guided tour of black self preservation, Maintain further reveals Deville’s continued metamorphosis as a skillful musician.

A particularly standout track, “Whispers,” is a heady song about anti-blackness and the threats black people face everyday, with lyrics that start the record with distinct purpose. Relatively docile initially, the tempo and background progressively compete with Deville’s voice while his lyrics become more frantic. He ponders out loud if he’ll be alive to track the song, how long he can endure the fight.

Down on my knees, will I see you tomorrow? Is it just me? Is there no one to follow? All my models are dead. Encased by the feds, picked up and fled, fucked up on meds. Lost in the head, forgot what they said. Can’t get ahead, filled up with dread.

Not by any means a sonically dark album, the proceeding songs incorporate beautiful atmospheric touches to pair with lyrics detailing his world and translucent lens. Classic jazz elements lace their way through his verses; soft birdsong accompany Deville in “Kalief.” Elements like panning in “Loosies + Poem For Us,” featuring McKenzie Chinn reciting a poem, makes for an exceptionally layered listen. Also a founding member of Growing Concerns Poetry Collective, Chinn’s voice delivers beautifully commanding lines as the final beats fall off the track.

Maintain delivers a nuanced collection of songs that not only highlights racism and toxicity, but also says, “you’re enough” over and over. Deville paints this portrait of self-love and appreciation in a world clouded by torpid animosity and hate, and reminds us that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Check out Maintain in its entirety this Friday, February 22nd and pick up tickets for his release show on March 3rd at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, here.

Track List

1. Whispers

2. Free Soul

3. Type Love (ft. Daryn Alexus)

4. Kalief

5. You’re Enough

6. Loosies + Poem For Us (ft. McKenzie Chinn)

7. Maintain

Excerpt from opening track, “Whispers”:

Hold my tongue, it’s natural to practice in a world full of anti-blackness, of limited access, of murderous tactics. The fact is I might be killed before I track this.

Subject to the whims of whiteness, want to touch the sky but I’m told I’m flightless. How much time do I get to fight this. Peaking through the blinds, is it safe to write this? No, safe is ambiguous. I’m living in suspense that’s continuous, 17 shots and I didn’t flinch. Numb to the wit, numb to this.

Ghostly voice of Ebony, whisper my life expectancy, said that I’m blessed just to be alive. Most of us won’t see 65. No, demurely hollow, blood on the leaves, stop ignoring the sorrow. Down on my knees, will I see you tomorrow? Is it just me? Is there no one to follow? All my models are dead. Encased by the feds, picked up and fled, fucked up on meds. Lost in the head, forgot what they said. Can’t get ahead, filled up with dread.

I just want my bed, to dream unseen possibilities, a long life while I take all my liberties. Maybe a wife and a son I get to see, telling him his life won’t be a liability.