When I Cross it Off is an album about big things and little things - - grief, heartbreak, new love, sex, making coffee, walking dogs, and getting through your day, one task at a time. Max Bien Kahn approaches universal themes like processing loss and falling in love with a sense of levity that reveals an underlying wisdom: in the wake of grief, ultimately it's the embracing of the little, everyday pleasures that brings happiness back into your life. As such, this album was made more so for dancing than quiet contemplation - - with shakers, tambourines, and bongos featuring heavily alongside lap steel, organ, vocal harmonies, and the occasional horn section. Enlisting frequent collaborator Duff Thompson to co-produce alongside him, Bien Kahn employed minimal gear to create a live sound peppered with experimental tones, designed to bring some levity and rhythm into the listener's life, too.