John Maus

A man stands alone, his long brown bangs drenched in sweat. He paces the stage, runs in place, tears at his hair, strikes himself with his microphone. Propelling bass, mechanical drums, and heavenly synths spill from the speakers around him. When he opens his mouth to sing, his eyes widen dramatically and the tendons in his neck strain with intensity, revealing — in all its authenticity — the “hysterical body.” The man is John Maus, a 21st-century philosopher-musician who’s risen to mythic status in the last 20 years. His fierce belief in the emotional weight of sound, feeling deeply and thinking seriously, arrangements that sound as good at the club as they do at the symposium, bizzarro takes on popular music tropes, and legendary live shows have inspired legions of acolytes.