Nate Smith releases LP  

Nate Smith releases LP  

RELATED ARTICLE: https://americana-uk.com/nate-smith-some-kind-of-dancing-independent-2018

Like lightning striking down on a cold empty plain somewhere between the Atlantic and the Pacific, Nate Smith plunges a bolt of electricity into a dying pop scene with Some Kind of Dancing, his incredibly thoughtful new album which hits record stores this fall. Always one to start a bold conversation, Smith outdoes himself with this latest offering, tackling all of the most dreadfully real issues facing our nation today with his trademark attitude. In this album, which is geared towards intellectually inclined listeners, audiences are faced with a couple of really important questions, but chief among them: when all our chips are down, where do you stand?

Americana has been going through somewhat of a renaissance this year, but no one has been presenting it in quite the same tone that Nate Smith does in this record. There’s a deliberately contemplative bend to all of the material, and even when Smith is railing on faceless corporate empires, there’s a feeling that he’s also talking about himself. A present minded duality is existent from start to finish on Some Kind of Dancing, but Smith is careful not to become hypocritical or holier than thou (although the temptation is quite obvious in a couple of places).

“The River is Rising” starts off Some Kind of Dancing on a very elegiac note, but whether or not the song is a straight dirge could be debated depending on who’s listening to the song. Smith uses a very surreal prose in this track, but its meticulousness prevents it from becoming to insular for us to understand it. It’s placement at the beginning of the record is key, I think, because it lets out some of the more tense moments right up front (which then allows the rest of the record to work on picking up the pieces).

Just as perfectly timed as the opening, Some Kind of Dancing’s closer “Tomorrow” is an excellent amalgamation of the ten tracks that precede it, and even gets a bit conceptual by continuing the narrative from “The River is Rising.” Smith’s brooding vocal style is the real star of this album, but I found this song to be the most demonstrative of his vast facilities, which were a little downplayed in his last record. There’s a lot of anger in these songs, but fortunately Smith keeps his temper and doesn’t let anything get out of control – unless it’s really necessary of course.

Some Kind of Dancing isn’t a progressive record, but it has an incredible fluidity to it that makes one song flow right into the next as if the entire album were a medley. That’s not as easy to do as it might look, and in 2018 when practically every millennial wants art that’s larger than life Smith has made a record that could be studied and analyzed endlessly for years without two people ever agreeing on its actual meaning. I’m intrigued and enthralled by this record, and I have a feeling that most people who come in contact with its majestic content will feel the same.

Mindy McCall