2011 has been a busy year for Maggz. After producing Zero Star’s Don’t Look Now EP and releasing Maggnetic Opposites, a solo EP featuring himself as emcee with Optix on prodution, we now get an instrumental EP with Maggz as sole producer and songwriter. Soundscapes: Autumn Selection is a short collection of songs meant to capture the feeling of the current season. Not only would I say that Maggz succeeds, but I’m even more excited to see so many sides of an artist in such a short time.

The EP opens with a very poignant audio clip from the cult TV series Space: Above and Beyond, where a character describes her feelings about fall and what it means to her personally. Maybe the fact that I just moved to Wisconsin from Texas has me appreciating the season much more than usual, but as I listen to this EP while I jog through the crisp autumn air with the multi-colored leaves falling, I can’t help but think that Maggz got it right. This isn’t a release that’s going to blow you away, but it is going to grow on you. It’s about subtleties and tone and creating an atmosphere, all of which I think Maggz did a great job of channeling. The EP captures the feeling you get as the weather cools down and things feel more serious, since summer is over and it’s time to get down to business before winter sets in and things can get gloomy. Maggz recreates this in his music, and he does it with a simplicity that I really appreciate. It could be a swirling play with keyboard phasing in the background creating the illusion of a cool breeze, or a subtle bass line relating the warmth and hope of an autumn sunrise.

An EP like Soundscapes is simple on paper, but when you try to do something like it, you can appreciate how difficult and complicated something so short and easy to listen to can be to create. Maggz really stepped up his game with this release, letting us know that his talent is not limited to just one style, and that he can thrive in many different settings. I have a feeling that 2011 is going to be looked back upon as quite the stepping stone for him.