Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South of Here

Americana | Folk | Rhythm & Blues

62%

 

Things have their time. Relationships end, friendships fade, trends change. Things that once felt important to us, over time can gradually feel like they no longer have a role to play in our lives. Yet just because these things pass doesn’t mean they weren’t worthwhile. Sure, your current job may have miles better pay and hours than the old one, you’ve no reason to ever go back, but it was an important step to get to where you are now. Your very first relationship was likely a hormonal mess that was never going to last, but the sensation of being in love for the first time is still a core memory that can never be overwritten no matter what follows. An ending isn’t the same as failure; things rarely last forever. When chapters of our lives pass into memory, it doesn’t mean the time you spent caring was time wasted – what matters is that it was exactly what you needed at the time.

Music can be much the same. Whether through artists changing their sound over the years, our own personal tastes shifting, or some grey area in between, sometimes music we love ends up being a snapshot of a particular point in time. It can be hard however to acknowledge when that time has passed. We keep listening to new albums hoping that they spark the same excitement that our favourites once did, and instead just end up disappointed. In times like this it’s best to recognise that while the band and their music was there when you needed it, that once meaningful connection has since passed. 

Though it was far from perfect, I loved the early days of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. As a child one of the first CDs I had to my name was an old rhythm & blues compilation, and to this day The Blues Brothers and The Commitments rank amongst my favourite films. So hearing a band so dedicated to delivering such a loving homage to that style and era of music was a joy to behold. The Night Sweats’ brand of old school rhythm and blues was fun, energetic, and worlds apart from what everyone else was doing. Yet with each successive record the outfit seems to drift further and further from those soulful origins, instead closing in on the tender folk of Rateliff’s solo work. 

Sure, there are hints of what I love still remaining. Soulful rocker ‘Call Me (Whenever You Like)’ is a bright highlight reminiscent of the band at their best, while Rateliff’s unexpectedly raw and passionate vocals in the climax of ‘Remember I Was a Dancer’ injects some much needed fire into an otherwise lowkey record. The buoyant brass of ‘Cars in the Desert’ and driving rhythm of ‘Times Makes Fools of Us All’ are promising on the surface, but the energy isn’t quite there, like the band are feathering the brakes. 

As a whole South of Here plays more like a chilled out Americana affair. The title track, much like ‘Wasting Time’ from their debut, draws deeply from The Band’s specific style of Americana to great effect. ‘Everybody Wants Something’ and ‘Heartless’ are both perfectly charming indie folk numbers, while ‘Centre of Me’ has a gentle tenderness to its opening half that would feel right at home among Rateliff’s solo work. The jaunty carefree ‘I Would Like to Heal’ is the kind of song that makes you want to dream the day away and watch the world pass by, and for me it embodies this album’s energy perfectly.

South of Here isn’t about raw and raucous rhythm & blues, it’s more of a “lounge on the front porch and brush your cares aside” kind of record. It doesn’t do a bad job of capturing that feeling by any stretch of the imagination, however this shift in focus leaves it rubbing shoulders with some stiff competition. The sad fact of the matter is that there’s an abundance of chilled out Americana records out there for me to dream the day away to, and little reason for me to gravitate to this one above the others. Whereas if I had a craving for a bit of fun with some old school rhythm & blues, then Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats had established themselves as a primary port of call among contemporary acts. Listening to this latest release feels like the moment to acknowledge that time has now passed – but damn, was that time glorious while it lasted!