Nathaniel Paul – Turpentine
Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Pop
Nathaniel Paul brings light to his melancholy on the new single, Turpentine.
Sometimes, artists do their best when throwing around what-ifs. Dreaming of a reality that has become unattainable a long time ago is not healthy for most individuals. This doesn’t necessarily apply to artists.
Regrets may be a bummer. But, in the hands of the right songwriter, they can help provide just the right variety of bittersweet feelings needed to create a memorable song. Regrets can function almost like meditation. They’re the excuse needed for world-building of a place that’s really too good to be true.
Nathaniel Paul has proven to be a master of both mining emotions as well as the potential of the modern recording studio. Turpentine sounds like a strange, bittersweet meditation on the passing of time. As one might expect, it’s delivered with grace and confidence, and crafted with care by an indie-pop star obsessed with craftsmanship.
J. L. Pritchard – FWD Devils
Genre: Math Rock, Indietronica, Alternative Rock
Similar artists: Battles, Radiohead, Thundercat, Morrissey, Peter Gabriel
J. L. Pritchard finds soulfulness in the cold and mechanical on the single FWD Devils.
Many times artists create works that show them to be having more fun than the audience. On only rare occasions, musicians adopt this strategy and end up making records that numerous other people can enjoy.
Selfishness, however, has rarely been a trait that characterizes truly great records. “Never play to the gallery“, the great songwriters say. But, few of those greats have ever treated their audiences to unfinished polka-rock projects powered by their own interest in the style of music.
J. L. Pritchard’s music is a meditation on life, a philosophical monologue, the sound of someone taking themselves hostage in a recording studio for a really long time. FWD Devils isn’t instant, or breezy. It’s precise and about as cheerful as a psychologist looking through Franz Kafka’s teenage notebook. It is, however, uncompromising in its vision and confident in the way that it wields electro/prog elements popular in the 2000s to help build the scenery.
J. L. Pritchard finds soulfulness in the cold and mechanical on the single FWD Devils.
