Maxwell Stern

Impossible Sum really is different than anything Max has done before. Its a departure from his emo and pop-punk roots, a collection of songs that exist outside of genre, as if he were contributing to the Great American Songbook. Songs like "Born At the End of the Year," "Going to My Brothers House," and "Pull the Stars Down" certainly have an Americana twang to them (especially with the presence of Magnolia Electric Co.s Mike"Slo-Mo" Brenner on pedal steel), while "Water Tower" and "Never Ending Equals Sign" sound like the best songs The Weakerthans never wrote. And you can hear other classic in]uences elsewhere on the album-a dash of Neil Young and Crazy Horse here, some of Tom Pettys cosmic chooglin there. But for Max, Impossible Sum is, in essence, a rediscovery and reconnection with the roots of songwriting. The album features the amazing Laura Stevenson, and members of Signals Midwest, Sincere Engineer, Into It, Over It and more.