Embrya

With a lesser jazz emphasis than his debut album, Embrya continues the trend towards heavy basslines and string arrangements, and it focuses on themes such as love and spirituality. However, the album features more of an emphasis on groove than melodies. Its production sound contains bassy, electronic and slight syncopated beats.{{cite web|last=Johnson Jr. |first=Billy |url=http://www.music.yahoo.ca/read/review/12050815 |accessdate=May 5, 2013 |title=Embrya |publisher=Yahoo! Music |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070629081745/http://www.music.yahoo.ca/read/review/12050815 |archivedate=June 29, 2007 |url-status=dead }} Maxwell has defined the album's title as "an approaching growing transition thought to be contained but destined for broader perception."Harrington, Richard. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121025060615/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-677589.html Maxwell's `Embrya,' In the Mood for Love]. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2009-03-30.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r355420|pure_url=yes}} Review: Embrya]. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2009-09-24.

| rev2 = Chicago Sun-Times

| rev2score = {{Rating|2.5|4}}{{cite news|author=Little, Rebecca|title=Spin Control|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|date=July 12, 1998|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4457002.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102033855/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4457002.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 2, 2012|accessdate=July 16, 2013|display-authors=etal}} {{subscription required}}

| rev4 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2006|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|page=582|chapter=Maxwell|publisher=MUZE|isbn=0195313739|edition=4th|volume=5}}

| rev5 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev5score = B+Browne, David. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080928231957/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,283861,00.html Review: Embrya]. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2009-09-24.

| rev6 = Los Angeles Times

| rev6score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}Johnson, Connie. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-28-ca-64244-story.html Review: Embrya]. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 2009-09-24. (Star rating found at [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/30719563.xml?dids=30719563:30719563&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+28%2C+1998&author=Connie+Johnson&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=POP+MUSIC%3B+RECORD+RACK%3B+It's+Uniquely+Maxwell%3B+***+1%2F2+MAXWELL+%22Embrya%22+Columbia&pqatl=google archived page]{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}})

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7score = 8.3/10{{cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Brad|date=October 8, 2018|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/maxwell-embrya/|title=Review: Embrya|website=Pitchfork|accessdate=October 15, 2020}}

| rev8 = Q

| rev8score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite journal|title=Review: Embrya|journal=Q|location=London|page=124|date=February 2002}}

| rev9 = Rolling Stone

| rev9score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/maxwell/albums/album/228137/review/5944347/embrya|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225183742/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/maxwell/albums/album/228137/review/5944347/embrya|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-12-25|title=Review: Embrya|magazine=Rolling Stone|accessdate=2009-09-24}}

| rev11 = Spin

| rev11score = 7/10{{cite journal|last=Tate|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Tate|date=August 1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeGUjNqTnGcC&pg=PA136|title=Review: Embrya|journal=Spin|location=New York|pages=136–7|accessdate=May 5, 2013}}

| rev12 = USA Today

| rev12score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}Jones, Steve. "[https://news.google.com/archivesearch?as_q=embrya&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Search+Archives&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_user_ldate=6%2F30%2F1998&as_user_hdate=6%2F30%2F1998&lr=&as_src=usa+today&as_price=p0&as_scoring=a Review: Embrya]". USA Today: June 30, 1998. Archived from [https://archive.today/20130131141220/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/30857484.html?dids=30857484:30857484&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+30,+1998&author=Edna+Gundersen;+Steve+Jones;+David+Patrick+Stearns&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=Hendrix,+Joplin+light+up+'60s+sets&pqatl=google the original] on 2009-09-24. (Transcription of original review at talk page)

}}

Embrya was originally received unfavorably by many critics.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fyYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA108|accessdate=May 5, 2013|title=Inner Vision|journal=Vibe|location=New York|pages=104–10|date=April 2001|first=Sewlyn|last=Seyfu Hinds}} In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot wrote that the record "functions primarily as background music, sustaining its contemplative tone and percolating groove almost too well".{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|date=July 5, 1998|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/07/05/maxwell-35/|title=Maxwell|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|access-date=August 22, 2016}} Ann Powers of The New York Times called Maxwell "an expert seducer" and the music "the aural equivalent of lotion rubbed on one's back by someone interesting", but believed the lyrics lacked substance.Powers, Ann. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/14/arts/critic-s-choice-pop-cd-s-beach-boys-and-girls-of-summer.html?scp=1&sq=Maxwell%20Embrya&st=cse Review: Embrya]. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2009-09-24. Greg Tate wrote in Spin that the album "comes off as a tad New Agey, art-rock pretentious, emotionally calculated, and sappy." Dream Hampton, writing in The Village Voice, said that the "listless and unfocused" songwriting does not redeem the "ridiculous, loaded song titles" and found the music "lazy": "The band drones along as if in some somnambulant session that never ends."Hampton, Dream. [http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-07-14/music/he-wants-you-to-want-him Review: Embrya]. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2009-09-24. In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau cited "Luxure: Cococure" as a "choice cut",{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=February 23, 1999|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv199-99.php|title=Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York|accessdate=May 5, 2013}} indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".{{cite web|year=2000 |url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php |title=Key to Icons |publisher=Robert Christgau |accessdate=November 23, 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130180649/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg90/grades-90s.php |archivedate=November 30, 2012 |url-status=live }} Stephen Thomas Erlewine deemed Embrya "a bit of a sophomore stumble, albeit one with promising moments", while writing in AllMusic, "[Maxwell] overstuffs his songs with ideas that lead nowhere". In (The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Arion Berger assigned the album two stars out of five, and found the songs monotonous and called the album "unfocused and pretentious ... full of overwrought, underwritten songs with obscure, fancy titles revolving around a sort of sexual gnosticism."{{sfn|Berger et al.|2004|p=521}}

In a positive review, Connie Johnson from the Los Angeles Times viewed Maxwell's music as unique and the album as an improvement from his debut album, which was "somewhat derivative". Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine complimented its lush musical backdrops and found the songs "pretty wonderful, even though they're impossible to tell apart or to remember after they're done." David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called the album "beautiful R&B background music" and felt that, despite vague and pretentious lyrics, it serves as "the culmination of the retro-soul movement that began taking shape several years ago." Amy Linden of Vibe called it "neo-soul via ambience" and said that "like smoke, Maxwell's love songs drift away, fading ever so seductively into the background, where they stay."Linden, Amy. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=JywEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA153&dq= Review: Embrya]". Vibe: 153–154. August 1998. Critics have since reappraised Embrya as a groundbreaking forerunner to later trends in Alternative R&B, and Columbia Records reissued the album in 2018 on its 20th anniversary.{{cite web |url=https://www.okayplayer.com/music/maxwell-interview-okayplayer.html |title=Maxwell Talks Social Media, Making Politically Charged Music & What The Legacy Of 'Embrya' Is 20 Years Later |last1=Ani |first1=Ivie |date=June 2018 |website=Okayplayer |accessdate=October 17, 2020}} Embrya was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, losing to Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998).[https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/erykahbadu/articles/story/5919702/badu_sweeps_soul_train_awards Erykah Badu sweeps Soul Train Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305225504/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/erykahbadu/articles/story/5919702/badu_sweeps_soul_train_awards |date=2009-03-05 }} rollingstone.com March 3, 1998 In 1999, it won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Male Soul/R&B Album.[http://www.allyourtv.com/awards/awardssoultrain14th.html 14th Annual Soul Train Award Winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000917150200/http://www.allyourtv.com/awards/awardssoultrain14th.html |date=2000-09-17 }} allyourtv.com/awards/ March 6, 2000

In 2024, Uncut ranked the album at number 110 in their list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of the 1990s", describing it as a "mighty smooth" record inspired by the "longform works" of Marvin Gaye and D'Angelo and writing that "the result is more distinct and enduring than was reckoned at the time."{{cite journal |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=John |title=The Ultimate Record Collection: The 500 Greatest Albums of the 1990s |journal=Uncut: The Archive Collection |date=April 2024 |issue=7 |page=49}}

Embrya was released on June 10, 1998. It sold more than one million copies and garnered Maxwell a new alternative fanbase, but confounded urban consumers. On May 26, 1999, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Embrya%22 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130717084702/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Embrya%22 |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 17, 2013 |title=American album certifications – Maxwell – Embrya |publisher=Recording Industry Association of America |accessdate=July 16, 2013 |at=If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH }}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Maxwell (credited as Musze), except where noted

| title1 = Gestation: Mythos

| length1 = 3:11

| title2 = Everwanting: To Want You to Want

| length2 = 7:30

| title3 = I'm You: You Are Me and We Are You (Pt. Me & You)

| length3 = 6:31

| title4 = Luxury: Cococure

| length4 = 5:30

| title5 = Drowndeep: Hula

| writer5 = Stuart Matthewman, Musze

| length5 = 5:39

| title6 = Matrimony: Maybe You

| length6 = 4:37

| title7 = Arroz con pollo

| length7 = 2:55

| title8 = Know These Things: Shouldn't You

| writer8 = Matthewman, Musze

| length8 = 5:14

| title9 = Submerge: Til We Become the Sun

| length9 = 6:24

| title10 = Gravity: Pushing to Pull

| writer10 = Matthewman, Musze

| length10 = 6:11

| title11 = Eachhoureachsecondeachminuteeachday: Of My Life

| length11 = 5:51

| title12 = Embrya

| length12 = 3:04

| total_length = 62:57

}}

Notes:

• "Gestation: Mythos" on initial CD pressings is a pregap track, later pressings include it as track 1, thus pushing the other track numbers forward by one. A 2019 remaster approved by Maxwell places the track at the end of the album.

Credits are adapted from Allmusic.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/embrya-mw0000034449/credits|title=Embrya – Maxwell: Credits|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=May 5, 2013}}

{{div col}}

• Gloria Agostini – harp
• Chris Apostle – production coordination
• Carl Carter – bass
• Tom Coyne – mastering
• Clark Gayton – trombone
• Kerry Griffin – drums
• Lisa Guastella – production coordination assistant
• Russell Gunn – trumpet
• Reggie Hamilton – bass, nylon-string guitar
• Bashiri Johnson – percussion
• Gene Lake – drums
• Glen Marchese – engineer, mixing
• Stuart Matthewman – beats, guitar, mixing, producer, programming, baritone saxophone
• Maxwell – beats, engineer, horn arrangements, mixing, producer, vocals
• Greg Moore – guitar
• Mike Pela – associate producer, mixing
• Julian Peploe – art direction
• Susan Poliacik – cello
• Matthew Raimondi – violin
• Andrew Richardson – stylist
• Daniel Sadownick – percussion
• Veronica Salas – viola
• Darrell Smith – beats, engineer, producer
• Mario Sorrenti – phjo
• Gerald Tarack – violin

{{div col end}}

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{{col-end}}

{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Maxwell|title=Embrya|award=Platinum|relyear=1998|certyear=1999}}

{{certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Berger et al.|2004}}|last=Berger|first=Arion|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-last=Hoard|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|date=November 2, 2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|display-authors=etal}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|153997}}

{{Maxwell}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1998 albums

Category:Maxwell (musician) albums

Category:Columbia Records albums