Max Winter – Things Can’t Stop feat Lauren Auder
London-based Max Winter has been building Like The Season, a collaborative mixtape due May 21 via Secret Friend, single by single. We covered Candlelight (W08), which brought together Sorry’s Asha Lorenz, rapper Rael, and bandmate Will Lister into something closer to a collage than a conventional feature track. “Things Can’t Stop” takes a different approach: one collaborator, one instrument at the centre, a year in the making.
The two go back to 2021, when Winter played piano on Auder’s debut album The Infinite Spine. When he made the demo for this track, the piano arrangement immediately brought her to mind. “I’ve always been a big fan of Lauren’s music, particularly her use of piano”, he says. “The instrument is central to ‘Things Can’t Stop’, and it reminded me of her when I first made the demo. I reached out, and we spent several sessions over the course of a year developing the track together.” A year is a long time for a single, and you can hear the care in it: nothing feels rushed or approximate.
What you get is restrained alt-pop with a strong melodic centre. The piano carries most of the structural weight, and Auder’s baritone sits alongside Winter’s vocal rather than competing with it. I find the patience of it notable: most collaborations this self-consciously careful end up feeling laboured, but this one just sounds settled. Auder recently released her second album Whole World As Vigil to considerable attention; Winter’s timing in releasing this now is good.
Like The Season is out May 21 via Secret Friend. I put this one in because the year-long process shows in the best way, and Auder’s presence gives it a weight that lifts it past the surrounding singles.
