Review by Dan Wilkinson (9 out of 10)

In Americana circles, there are so many bands that seem to eschew songs and melody in order to play a funereal dirge that they seem to think makes them more ‘real’ than other bands. Thankfully Nathan is not one of those bands. In fact, it has been a long time since I have heard a band reach out and embrace melody and song writing craft in quite such a blatant and exuberant manner. Nathan is all the better band for this. It is as if someone has given the band a country, jazz and blues 101, from which they have hand picked the best characteristics of each genre. Rhythms are relentlessly perky and upbeat while the bass nearly always keeps things moving with a traditional I-V pattern. The female harmony vocals only serve to add to the good time vibe of the record. Highlights include the jazz tinged number ‘Emelina’ and the more trad country tune ‘Stone’. Some songs are of course weaker than others but the sum of the parts more than makes up for any less excellent moments. Instrumentation is interesting across the board encompassing trumpet, banjo and mandolin along with guitar, bass and drums. Ultimately the only criticism I can make of Nathan is that they seem to be incapable of writing a sad song at this time, but there is more than enough misery in other artists music to make up for this ‘deficiency’. Nathan has released one of the more interesting and original albums that I have heard for a long time and there is no better compliment I can pay them than that. www.nathanmusic.ca 

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