Feeling like it should have been on the Once soundtrack (no pun intended), it’s buoyed by gorgeous female backing vocals that sound like a newly fluffed pillow inviting a tired head. One of those is opener, “Once in a Great While”. They’re just as powerful as the quiet subtle moments, of which there are many. Plus, as the mild drums hold down a backbeat and a colorful piano waltzes the proceedings along, Rateliff manages some killer vocal harmonies, a la Crosby, Stills and Nash. “Brakeman” is admirably introspective - a trait that’s unapologetic in its presence throughout each of these songs - and even a little haunting, the way Rateliff inflects his voice. That said, there are some memorable moments here, no matter which version of the man you prefer. Or, in other words, if you loved the foot-stomping Memphis soul of “I Need Never Get Old”, this 17-track reissue probably isn’t for you. It’s not that what he was doing before finding the Night Sweats wasn’t appealing it’s just that what he’s done with the Night Sweats since then is far more interesting than what he was doing back when he was sleeping well. Practically coming packaged with lights that blink, “Money Grab” on the front of it, In Memory of Loss is a snapshot of a guy who became celebrated for not doing the very thing this snapshot portrays. Yet here we are, in 2017, and Concord Records has thought it best to revisit the 2010 debut of Rateliff, the solo artist (as opposed to Rateliff, the band leader). It’s amazing what a little angst, some grit and a handful of years toiling away in the national folk scene can do for an artist’s career. In a lot of ways, you could be forgiven if it managed to slip by you.īut then Stax Records unleashed Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats in 2015, and a fed-up chorus laced with the words “Son of a Bitch” became a rallying cry for music festival lovers everywhere, and the soft-spoken Glen Hansard-ish folkie with a beard suddenly morphed into the hip Southern Soul troubadour… with a slightly more kept beard. The record, released on iconic folk label Rounder, came and went without too much fanfare, despite it receiving praise from the New York Times and Billboard. It was written by Steve Horowitz and it received a 7-out-of-10 rating. Look all the way back to 2010 and you’ll find PopMatters’s initial review of Nathaniel Rateliff’s debut solo album, In Memory of Loss. The record is the sound of a man wrestling with his burdens in a creative fashion, with the help of an acoustic guitar and the backing of some friends on other ordinary instruments played with a strong passion.” “This isn’t quite folk, although the sound evokes early Dylan and it ain’t even poetry, although there’s a suggestion of Cohen.
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