Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Nat Baldwin - Lights Out


So, we didn't have this blog when this album came out, but its on my top ten of the year! And it deserves lots of credit, since Nat is not only a friend but an amazing musician.

Nat plays stand up bass, and sings rollicking melodies about broken hearts, and the future of love life. His album has beautifully layered and textured vocals that are often slow and somber. With a sense of yearning, Nat calls out to his lost lover (who lots of girls wish would get in a hole and die so we can have him). His compassion comes out with his nonchalant in his delivery. You can almost see him shrug as he delivers "And now I found my true love/and I'm doing it right now/and oh no one can stop me." His voice says that he's moving on to bigger and better things, but his delivery really says "Shit, woman, do you think I don't miss you?" Adding to this, there are highlights of a chorus of singers in parts of songs, which visually, I could almost imagine them popping out from behind Nat playing his bass to chime in at all the right parts.

The bass is pretty much the only instrument that accompanies Nat's voice, which makes his songs simple and memorable.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif You can probably hum about every song melody after listening to the album once. The tones are either long and swelling or short staccato and pulsing. The times when the two are juxtaposed creates lots of movement in the song, and makes the songs come alive.

What is fantastic about Nat's record is that it takes genres and bends together. Obviously, Nat has had some classical training but he's more interested in the accessibility of the indie rock song. Rather than reinventing the wheel, Nat is able to pull together his musical resources to create a work that is his own.

And just a quick note, Nat could be such a player, but he's not. He's a fun guy to see perform, but even if the ladies are drooling over how attractive he is cool as a cucumber. But as the song "Only in Dreams" displays, Nat can be the hot musician stud muffin if he desires: "So we're all alone, what we gonna do, c'mon girl"

Buy the album.
Nat's myspace, with new materal

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