Cinnamon Gum is the project of Gdańsk-based Maciej Milewski, a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist whose father spent years playing saxophone in a Caribbean cruise-ship big band, coming home each time with soul records and cinnamon-flavoured chewing gum that were near-impossible to find in Poland. Both ended up defining his career: Milewski’s 2024 album The Cinnamon Show, recorded entirely on analogue instruments and drawing from the falsetto soul of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, broke him through at home and caught the ear of That’s Love Records co-founder Alejandro Garcia, who signed him to the New Jersey label.

“Mary Liz” was cut in February at Studio Zoe in Princeton, to tape, with Max Shrager producing, mixing, and playing vibraphone. The ballad was written with Dorota Theisebach, a Polish vocalist who competed on The Voice of Poland in 2013, and the two voices carry it together through organ, a patient bassline, and live drums. The session was fully analogue from recording to mix, and the warmth that process gives the mid-range is where the track lives.

It’s the lead single from Cinnamon Gum’s forthcoming third album. You can stream and get a copy of “Mary Liz” HERE