About This:
Life and Other Impossibilities is the ambitious title of the Renaissance Men's first group recording. Unlike other bands that work together, break up, and then go on to produce solo efforts, this CD is the fruit of having already experienced working in smaller groups on the solo collections of many of the band members. Here, they were finally going to work together as one concentrated and experienced group of singer-songwriters.

This is a collection of songs that tries to capture the diversity of our experiences. In this one collection you can swing from the first hints of romance ("Springtime of Tomorrow") and finally letting it go ("Begin to Be") to coming to terms with death ("Requiem" "On My Way"). You can recall something as subtle as the tricks the mind plays when you find yourself alone in a new place and missing the one you love ("Tunisian Blue") to even just the pleasures of walking down a gravel road on a summer afternoon ("Simple Things").

The styles are as varied as the topics, as the band moves easily from acoustic pop to world beat, electronic to folk, or progressive rock to rockabilly. As a result, the "sounds like" comparisons that listeners have made are all over the map, with such seemingly-incompatible names as "Pink Floyd," "Belle & Sebastian," "[a happy] Elliott Smith," "Simon & Garfunkel," "Depeche Mode," and "Five For Fighting," to name just a few. With a music-making talent that can stretch in all these directions, what was it that holds this collection together? The band felt that they were united by a special intent: an honesty about what life was really all about.

The result is a rich and eclectic variety of songs that should satisfy the heart and mind as well as your ears and feet. Underneath everything, there's simply the sounds of the joy of living – sounds that are all too often absent from music today.

Recorded in Nashville at Underground Sound and County Q Studios, the band performed several of the songs "live" in the studio, rather than separately tracking all of the individual parts. The result of this was the synergy you can hear in the songs between the players: a kind of jam-band excitement as the parts play off of one another in the sheer joy of music-making.

Life and Other Impossibilities: Real Songs for Real Life.

Quotes:
"I have played it a number of times and enjoy it more and more; it is beautiful. So I would like to buy a few more to give to friends." – Kathleen, Milwaukee

"A real work of art." – Erik, Boston

"The guitar solo on 'Requiem' was f–ing awesome!" – Nathaniel, Oxford, England

"I played 'Tunisian Blue' for my co-worker and she began to cry." – Jean, Madison

"an eclectic album featuring breezy pop tunes ('My Mom'), love-lorn ballads ('Tunisian Blue') and enthralling jams ('Requiem,' 'Allison by Moonlight')" –Dave Rossetti, Marquette University

"I liked 'What They Have' and 'Tunisian Blue', plus the instrumentals in 'Allison By Moonlight'. Very cool." – Jess, Aviano, Italy

"My favorite is 'Tunisian Blue.' At least that is the one I find myself humming as I walk around the neighborhood. It reminds me of one of those operatic pieces by Roy Orbison that I have always loved like 'Leah' or 'Blue Bayou.' I should like to know the story behind it. 'Requiem' is also very beautiful." – Scott, St. Louis