Multicultural Kānaka Maoli singer songwriter, Isabeau Waia’u Walker, has had to get creative to attempt the question of genre: “bright gloom,” “joy adjacent;” “island of broken, demented toys.” Hailing from her homeland Hawaii and having spent the latter half of her life in Oregon’s Pacific Northwest. Unless touring with Y La Bamba, in which she sings backup vocals, her feet and roots are always close to the shores of the Pacific Ocean (yearning for and pulled by her packs). Experience, observations and negotiations with race, culture, gender and class are inextricably woven into her purpose and product. Songs of love. Songs of community and fight, of life and self. She lives in attractive vulnerability and sincere humility despite the power of her performances and songs. An early retirement as a full time secondary school teacher in 2019 has allowed her to tour, play local shows, and record more, releasing her EP, Better Metric, in 2020, then her first LP, Body, in 2022, with engineer, bandmate and friend Ryan Oxford at The Center for Sound, Light and Color. Since those releases she’s unsurprisingly caught the attention of and has been featured in and on several publications, podcasts and programs such as OPB, Live Wire Radio, Vortex Music Magazine, Willamette Week, KEXP. Isabeau dedicated the last year and a half to the release of her third record, an LP titled Heavyweight, out October 2024.
Ever since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, “The Real Truth”, Maximiano’s music has reached indie, folk, and americana scenes all across the country. The Milwaukee, WI based singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist toured extensively in support of “The Real Truth,” which The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel named the 3rd Best Album of 2024, calling it “one of the most piercing and emotionally resonant collections of songs… a towering artistic achievement.”
Maximiano performed 107 shows in 28 cities across 15 states in 2025 while still finding time to produce, mix, and collaborate with 30 artists and bands. In the midst of this hard work, Maximiano had a brief period of rest when their friends asked them to dog sit in the Hudson Valley region of New York. During that ten day span, Maximiano wrote their new album, “Rokeby,” named for the area that inspired the songs.
“Rokeby,” which Maximiano wrote, produced, arranged, recorded, and mixed, expands upon the lush production of “The Real Truth” in its first half before refocusing around the raw intimacy of performance in the stripped back second half. Every song on the album, no matter the production style, is driven by Maximiano’s trademark songwriting style: “honest, vulnerable, and altogether beautiful,” (Milwaukee Record).
The album is rooted in peace, community, and opposition to technocratic fascism so, in line with these beliefs, it will not be released on Spotify. Additionally, in solidarity with every artist who suffers under the streaming model, only the first half of the record will be available on other streaming platforms. The full record will be available on Bandcamp, vinyl, and CD on April 1st.
Nathaniel Heuer is a musician and woodworker living in Milwaukee. He currently writes, records, and performs with some of Milwaukee’s preeminent bands, including genre-bending Group of the Altos (The Altos), experimental rockers Marielle Allschwang and The Visitations, and his own indie folk project Hello Death.