Categories : Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 5 / 5 Reviewer: Kevin Hartford |
Folksy singer-songwriters could learn a lesson from Nathaniel Rateliff. They could learn a few – when to get loud, when to stay quiet, how to harmonize, how to end a song, and under what circumstances a xylophone would be an appropriate instrumental choice. Rateliff’s debut album, In Memory of Loss, would function as a particularly informative tutorial.
Rateliff has an arsenal of vocal tricks and he changes things up so often that not one of them overstays its welcome: there’s the halted melodies of ‘Brakeman,’ the word “heels” stretched out to four syllables on ‘Boil & Fight,’ the bravado and intensity of ‘You Should’ve Seen The Other Guy,’ and the soulful howl on ‘Whimper and Wail.’ There are multi-layered backing vocals on nearly every song, but they’re placed so skillfully they never feel overdone.
The style changes substantially from track to track. ‘Once in a Great While’ sounds like Bon Iver meets Ryan Adams, ‘A Lamb on a Stone’ could be an alternate take of Bob Dylan’s ‘Series of Dreams,’ and ‘Longing and Losing’ wouldn’t be out of place on a Timber Timbre album. ‘You Should’ve Seen the Other Guy’ sounds like Tom Petty being covered by Johnny Cash until the song ends on an extended, high-pitched wail. The drums and piano on ‘Happy to Just Be’ repeatedly threaten to break into the chorus of ‘Hey Jude.’ No song sounds like the one that proceeded it, and, as a result, the album remains consistently compelling.
Much of the proceedings are Rateliff and an acoustic guitar, but when he throws another instrument into the mix – a piano, an organ, a violin – it feels like a necessary ingredient rather than a distracting addition. The aforementioned xylophone, on the stirring ‘Boil & Fight,’ is so good it makes you wonder what the song would’ve sounded like without it. Percussion is limited – a quiet cymbal here, a thumping bass drum there – and never feels out of place.
Rateliff also knows how to get out when the getting is good. If a song is two minutes long, it feels like it should be two minutes long. None of the tracks end on a fadeout, with most ending rather abruptly: the music stops and the vocals trail off as if Rateliff suddenly remembered he needed to be somewhere else. It’s an effective technique, and like everything else on In Memory of Loss, it works exceedingly well. This is really, really good stuff.
