Max McNown Night Diving - The Cost of Growing Up (2-LP)

Anchored by the charmingly warm voice McNown honed a few years ago in part by busking on Southern California beaches, Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up) borrows the second half of its title from a beautifully textured track that perfectly encapsulates his newly refined sound. With its rootsy and ethereal instrumentation - bright steel guitar, lush mandolin, soulful organ - “The Cost of Growing Up” is a clear but melancholy meditation on the inevitability of pain.