Max Swan turns a lost voice memo and a five-year rebuild into ‘LMK,’ a warm new single about reaching the people who matter
Songs do not always arrive when they are needed. Sometimes they sit around for years, waiting for circumstances to catch up with them. That is what happened with Max Swan’s “LMK“. The song began before the 2021 flood that severely damaged his home, with Swan writing about trying to reach a friend who was going through a difficult time. Then his attention turned elsewhere. Rebuilding the house became the priority, and music temporarily disappeared from the picture.
While clearing out the damaged property, Swan came across an old voice memo containing the chorus. He had no recollection of recording it. That forgotten recording eventually became the starting point for finishing “LMK”, this time from his brother’s childhood bedroom, with an upright piano from the family home nearby.
It gives the single an interesting backstory, but the song does not depend on it. The lyrics stand on their own, built around a familiar situation: someone feels alone, and another person is trying to reach them. “Let me know when you can get away” sounds like an invitation, while the chorus offers reassurance.
The finished recording also reflects the circumstances in which it was made. Piano sits alongside EWI, sax, cello and bass, while the piano itself was captured as a voice memo rather than recorded with microphones.
There is something fitting about a song concerned with finding your way back to people emerging from such a long detour. “LMK” began as an unfinished idea and eventually found its place.
