The “Stranger Things” effect was in full force Sunday night as Maya Hawke, aka Robin Buckley, settled into Thalia Hall to showcase her other character: singer-songwriter. It wasn’t just because the all-ages show was populated by a number of tweens and their parents who screamed messages of admiration and clamored to get tour merch and bags of popcorn from the bar, but the show itself was a bit, well, upside down because she largely performed material that no one has even heard yet..
Rather than a traditional concert with full band, lights, props and all the other bells and whistles, “The Evening With Maya Hawke” featured just her and producer/new husband Christian Lee Hutson on acoustic guitars and violinist Odessa Jorgensen. They were all seated on chairs, carefully unpacking the material from Hawke’s upcoming folk-pop album “Maitreya Corso” over the course of an hour and some change.
The record isn’t out until May 1 and only two singles have been released thus far: the plucky “Devil You Know” and whimsical ballad “Bring Home My Man,” which made the untraditional format of Hawke’s latest tour (her first in three years) feel more like an intimate listening party. Or, possibly an extension of the in-store meet and greets she’s been queuing up, including Wicker Park’s Reckless Records on Saturday.
“I know this is unusual and different,” Hawke admitted to the audience at the sold-out venue, “but I wanted to take you on a journey through this record.” A journey, she clarified, that was about evolving from a “painful to a positive place,” which was felt in confessional lyrics about love lost and gained and the growing pains of growing up.
In promotional materials, “Maitreya Corso” is described as an alter ego for Hawke, a “magical misfit” who lives in a “fantasy world” with an “inability to adapt to the surrounding world [that] allows her to create a world of her own.” While the night felt like a missed opportunity to not bring in some of those fantastical elements (perhaps it’s being saved for an upcoming tour), the choice for an intimate, up-close introduction to the material served its purpose, too — especially for allowing Hawke’s eccentric personality to shine.
Equal time was spent on the conversational banter between songs, and as Hawke quipped about everything from Malort to Miley Cyrus and sex toys (eventually apologizing to the parents in the room for her frequent cursing and talk of vibrators), it gave a window into how the wheels in her brain turn that allows for such unique and densely worded material.
Fast-lipped songs like “Great Minds” and “Last Thoughts on Morning Star” had the pace of a poetry slam open mic, padded with Hawke’s even-tempered vocals that would’ve fit well in the coffee shop, too. She was helped by Jorgenson and Hutson on lush three-part harmonies that were reminiscent of the ’70s folk scene in New York, not far from where Hawke grew up with her actor parents Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
On Sunday, though, she name-dropped other famous figures important to her artistic journey, like citing Leonard Cohen as personal inspiration and instructing the room to go home and devour his work, “How To Speak Poetry.” She also covered a few lines of Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years,” emphasizing the throughline between that song and her own, “Terms of Estrangement.”
The track, she said, was written as a “breakup song on delay” after she and Hutson ran into one of her exes on the street and were inspired by the exchange rather than feel cut down by it. The couple’s natural chemistry oozed from the stage. On the tender “Love Of My Life,” Hawke appeared to sing the lyrics right to him, and on the gripping “Heavy Rain,” his passionate guitar playing coaxed Hawke into giving one of the most soulful performances of the night.
As Hawke explained, she and Hutson (also a recording artist, formerly of The Driftwood Singers) fell in love while making the record, and it’s their first time touring together. There’s a sense he’s helping push her out of her comfort zone, too — this tour is Hawke’s first time joining Hutson on guitar, which she described as “conquering a fear.”
It’s all setting Hawke up for a lucrative music career with “Stranger Things” now in the can. While the Netflix phenomenon may have drawn an obvious fan crowd to Hawke’s show on Sunday, it also had a powerful way of pushing music stars (Kate Bush) into the public consciousness. Hawke will rightfully be next in line.
Set list for Maya Hawke April 26, 2026 show at Thalia Hall
Devil You Know
Love of My Life
Great Minds
Terms of Estrangement
Dream House
Slacker in the Rye
Last Thoughts on Morning Star
Last Living Lost Cause
Heavy Rain
Lioness
Bring Home My Man
Luna Moth
Thérèse