A little gem from a new voice to me; a quick check on the web reveals that this Austin-based performer is, in fact, about ten years into his career and that Receive will be his fifth release.
Starting from country/folk roots he has apparently moved more towards what Americans describe as an indie rock sound. Well there's certainly plenty evidence of a rock edge and drive here, but his roots are certainly showing, too.
Just seven songs of high quality combine a Guy Clark-like fondness for characters and story-telling with a very twenty-first century musical approach. Three tracks of random radio stuff ("reception#1", etc) don't make too much sense to me; I guess it's an attempt to make the songs seem like random unknown voices from the ether too.
Nonetheless, bags of atmosphere are conjured from some pretty sparse ingredients; Nathan's warm, slightly fractured vocal on Cinders is sung right up against the mike and supported by an arrangement of great delicacy shot through with steel - reminiscent, I suppose, of one of Lou Reed's painfully intimate songs. If Cinders was on your mp3 and popped up out of the blue I think you'd have to stop what you were doing to drink it all in.
Weary World, on the other hand, demonstrates an ability to make an apparently simple, straightforward tune and lyric carry an awful lot of emotional weight, not an easy trick to pull off whilst Change could have come from Nels Andrews' songbook; it has a similar weighty, considered style to the acoustic guitar sound, an echo-laden pedal steel for the atmosphere and an acute sensitivity for the disappointments experienced in real lives - a long way from the vacuous optimism of pop music.
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Receive, in contrast, gets the electric guitar brought out and a pretty fuzzy, heavy sound backed by a thumping drum; Nathan's vocals have the edge required for a very good rock voice and the warmth that draws you in for the quieter, folkier songs. It's a slow-burner, this one, and it'd be well worthy buying or downloading what you can and familiarise yourself with Nathan Hamilton's style before you check him out live; there's hidden treasures here and I think the man could be a real find.
(John Davy www.nessmp3.com/music/biscuitsandgravy)
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