Maki is a Canadian producer who has been putting out music for the last two decades. In that time, he’s worked on a lot of different projects, but he’s probably best known for his collaborative albums with Kay the Aquanaut. His most recent project was done with another longtime collaborator in soso, who worked with him to create If and Only If. Now Maki is back with a solo instrumental project, American Road Films.

As hinted at by the title of this project, this EP is inspired by the great American road films, such as Two Lane Blacktop. Now, Maki isn’t about to spoon-feed you anything, so you’re not getting a project with a lot of revving engines and dialogue clips. Instead, this is a project meant to just jumpstart your imagination and create a soundscape that might make you think of the open road. To do so, Maki is moving between mid-tempo and downtempo beats, but he’s always working with a gentle touch in creating these beautiful melancholic and somber melodies. As a result, this project becomes a nice soundtrack for your own late night drive, when you don’t have anywhere in particular to be, but maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for. It’s not anything too unusual or outside the box, but it is a nice collection of instrumental tracks from a veteran producer who knows how to develop melody and atmosphere and create a nice flow from beginning to end.

American Road Films is a nice little project from a veteran producer in Maki. He found a theme, he made it work, and in doing so gave us some really enjoyable instrumental beats that will let you enjoy the open road the next time you get behind the wheel.