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UK duo Max Macready return with their new single ‘The Hunt’, arriving August 13, followed by an ambitious, cinematic music video on August 27. Blending darkwave, synthwave, electronic and post-punk influences with the atmosphere of a lost science fiction future, ‘The Hunt’ explores pursuit, mixed signals and the uneasy space between connection and fantasy.
Max Macready describe their sound as a musical transmission from a lost future, where analogue technology, neon-lit spaceports and pulsing synthesizers converge. Their music draws on the progressive ambition of Yes and Rush, the rhythmic energy of The Police and the cinematic textures of John Carpenter, alongside influences including Gary Numan, Nine Inch Nails, Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis.
At the heart of ‘The Hunt’ is the pursuit of something that may ultimately be unattainable. The track examines the thrill of the chase from both sides, reflecting on time invested, crossing worlds, starting over and the familiar patterns of knowing better, yet doing it anyway.
The song also looks towards the increasingly complicated nature of modern communication. Is a perceived connection really there, or is it simply an idea, an invitation imagined into existence? ‘The Hunt’ sits within that uncertainty, becoming a song about defiance and awareness in the face of mixed signals that may or may not be real. Beneath its sci-fi surface is a reflection on contemporary communication and the increasingly manipulative race for technological dominance and influence.
Musically, the track came together quickly. The composition and arrangement remained largely unchanged throughout the recording of the guitars and vocals, while the lyrics were written afterwards. Despite this, the track had carried the working title ‘The Hunt’ from the beginning. The vocals were recorded at approximately 3am one morning in London, before the noise of traffic and delivery mopeds outside became too loud.
The accompanying video expands the world introduced by Max Macready’s debut visual, ‘Holding Pattern’, which was conceived as a fuzzy holographic transmission or test signal sent across the void.
For ‘The Hunt’, the duo wanted to move beyond the idea of receiving a transmission and instead establish a tangible world in which their characters are physically present. The video follows them across distances and unfamiliar environments, travelling between locations that could belong to science fiction cinema or an alternate future built from obsolete analogue technology.
John Carpenter’s visual language remains a key influence, particularly his exploratory travelling camera movements. Shot using a Lumix S1RII with anamorphic lenses, a Steadicam and drone camera, the video was filmed on location across Cornwall and at RAE Bedford, including ‘Cornish Mars’, Gwithian Beach, Goonhilly Earthstation and the now-derelict air tunnel control room at RAE Bedford.
The control room became a particularly important setting. Its abandoned, otherworldly architecture provided the perfect environment for the video’s central computer interface and mainframe, which carries echoes of the antagonistic machines found in early 1980s science fiction cinema. Small LED lights and carefully chosen props were used to bring additional texture to the location.
The visual effects were deliberately restrained. No AI was used in the production of the video. Instead, Max Macready focused on capturing distinctive moments in camera and finding real-world locations that could convincingly evoke the imagined landscapes of their universe. Some 3D visual effects were subsequently used for elements including a twin-moon sky, parked rocket craft and the removal of unwanted signage.
The result is a video rooted in the tactile, cinematic qualities of analogue science fiction, created for anyone who has ever romanticised obsolete media formats, imagined dystopian futures through 1980s cinema, or wondered what might be waiting on the other side of a signal sent into the void.
Max Macready is a musical transmission from somewhere that perhaps never existed.
The duo consists of Max Macready, who handles bass, synthesisers and composition, and Kurt Precinct, who drives guitars and textures into orbit, while also contributing vocals and co-authoring the narrative. Together, they inhabit a retro-future universe where their songs exist as cassette-tape broadcasts echoing through deep space, beamed outward from forgotten consoles and travelling as radio waves in search of a listener.
With ‘The Hunt’, that transmission becomes something more physical. The signal has crossed the void. The question is whether anyone, or anything, is listening.
Artist Bio:
Max Macready is a musical transmission from a lost future – where analogue tech, neon-lit spaceports, and pulsing synths converge. Hailing from the UK, the duo crafts a sound rooted in synthwave/darkwave, electronic, and post-punk, pulling deep influence from the progressive ambition of Yes and Rush, the rhythmic energy of The Police, and the cinematic textures of John Carpenter. Max Macready handles bass, synthesisers, and composition — building sonic landscapes that feel both vintage and otherworldly. Kurt Precinct drives guitars and textures into orbit, sometimes stepping to the mic or co-authoring the narrative. Together, they form a band that exists both in our world and in another: a retro-future universe where their songs exist as cassette-tape broadcasts echoing through deep space. Their music is meant to feel like something your character in a sci-fi film would find – beamed outward into the void, spinning in a forgotten console, or drifting through space as radio waves seeking a listener, waiting for someone – or something – to listen.