Closer by Nathaniel Rateliff

\20.8.18\

As a singer, songwriter, drummer, and guitarist, Nathaniel is most definitely an artist. His first time seeing widespread success came with his group Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and their song “S.O.B.” in 2015. If his name sounds familiar, this song is why. A very powerful but soft voice, he drifted in and out of several acts around Denver. All this time he worked solo on two records and an EP that he published between 2010 and 2013. It was around this time Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats got together, leaving most of his time to the band.

In 2014, while recording with NRNS, Closer EP was put out on Mod Y Vi Records. There are six tracks that all are very slum and beautiful in a sad way. The whole journey is powered by his raspy, soft voice that holds so much power in every word you can’t ignore a single word. The songs all kind of sound the same, which I say in the best way, but three songs stick out (which are also the ones on the New Vinyl Mondays playlist). These are “Something Beautiful”, “Laughing”, and “Closer”. These three tracks are by far the lead songs, and it is a real shame that we did not get a whole album to accompany the trip this short EP takes us through.

Funny enough, this is my first black 10” in my collection, the rest all colored in some manner. That’s not to discount this record, it is still very high quality and very beautiful. Three songs on each side make listening easy to keep track of, as well as how thick it is.

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