Max Avery Lichtenstein is an American/British composer currently based in the New York City region. While working as an alternative record producer at the turn of the century, Max was asked to compose and record additional music for the film adaptation of Denis Johnson's novella Jesus' Son.  This critically-acclaimed movie introduced Max's work to the independent film community, leading Max to write scores and songs for a number of narrative features, including an original piece for the Academy Award nominated film Far From Heaven.  Max's fable-like score for James Marsh's dark parable The King was called “inspired” by The Hollywood Reporter after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.  

Max has scored numerous award-winning documentaries, including the Oscar-nominated short Mondays at Racine, the Emmy-nominated feature War Don Don, and the Emmy-winning feature Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists. His original instrumental songs for the groundbreaking documentary Tarnation were widely hailed by critics and continue to generate a great deal of public interest, with downloads of the film's main theme song tallying more than 350,000.  In 2022 Max received a "Best Score" nomination from the Critics Choice Documentary Awards for his work on The Janes.

Max’s work is frequently licensed for use in films, television programs and major advertising campaigns worldwide, including spots for Chrysler (USA), Geico (USA), Impulse Body Spray (UK), 3 Mobile (Italy), and The BBC (UK). In addition to composing for film, Max records and performs under the name Camphor. Under this pseudonym he's released several albums, the last one being Here Where the Light Falls. He's also produced and/or mixed albums for other artists such as Mercury Rev and Mook (featuring Paul Dano).

Max’s unique style, varied experience and indie sensibilities infuse a special character into his music and into the projects that his songs and scores accompany.