Nathan Maxwell’s Undone sounds as if Bob Johnston, who produced this EP, had re-recorded his most famous work with Dylan and Cash but this time used a rhythm section led by Motown studio ace Bob Babbitt, who plays bass on it. It also sounds like the Rolling Stones’ “Girl With The Faraway Eyes” but without the irony, or maybe like how the Black Crowes would come off if fronted by Lou Reed.
Maxwell is more of a tuneful talker than a singer, and his songs wouldn’t really be songs at all if they weren’t fused with Johnston and Babbitt’s greasy, bump-and-grind grooves. But so what? Born and bred in D.C. but recently “Brooklyn Bound” so that he could pursue his dream to be “an artist, a writer, a musician too,” Maxwell has worked out a sound here that’s juke-joint twangy and honky-tonk soulful. If he can sustain this sketch, and flesh it out and vary it a bit too over the course of a full-length, that might be something really special.