Song You Need: Max Winter takes the weight on “Lean Into Me”

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Max Winter's “Lean Into Me” is an sparse and tender moment in which the south London musician drops his barriers and pushes feeling front and center. It's a remarkably sweet collaboration with vocalist Imogen that started life as a piano loop written during a lesson Winter was giving to a student of his. Those piano chords act as the handrail of the song, one that stays gently beside the two singers before they let go collapse into one another. "I've seen you three time this week, I feel much better," she sings with a sigh, urging him to slow the world down, just for a while, until it no longer spins. Winter, for his part, offers the next best thing and opens his arms wide for her.

There are echoes of Sampha, James Blake, and Mica Levi in the song, at least to my ears. These artists share not just a home city with Winter, but the ability to skip between experimental and classic forms of songwriting. His previous work, including 2021 album One Thousand Lonely Places, is pulse-quickening and electric. "Lean Into Me," however, is a revelation.