Rouquart, Maxime
Homo Eclecticus
Hysterical, hefty, homegrown. Maxime Rouquart sure took his time to deliver his first solo effort so when Covid-19 hit his hometown Ghent, and by extension the world, he found the perfect excuse to indulge. Fueled by his eclectic past as a performer, Rouquart casually blends a swath of different shades of rock and pop. Homo Eclecticus takes you on a journey through the music that informed his formative years as a musician. Drawing ideas from the heavier and more alternative side of music in the 90s and early 00s, Maxime Rouquart effortlessly pulls the rug from under the listener time and time again, and to great effect too. During the writing and recording of Homo Eclecticus Rouquart would go out on daily walks in his neighborhood on the outskirts of town, taking in his surroundings and forgetting about the music hed be working on. This allowed for a completely fresh perspective every time he revisited a track resulting in a sound that takes the off from one end of the spectrum to another, often within the same song. With its 7 tracks and 25 minutes, the album is on the short end of the spectrum, but with reason. "An audience today deserves more than another bloated album consisting of mainly filler. So I took it up as a challenge; If I can't convince you in 7 tracks, then what's the point?"