Nate Hall
A Great River
Neurot
2012
Rating: 7.5 gold ingots out of 10
There seems to be a small movement of metal band leaders putting out solo records, and now we have Nate Hall of US Christmas joining the fray. "A Great River" is just a man and his guitar, singing dark folk songs drenched in reverb, the soundtrack to life on a rundown farm just after harvest season. The fields lie fallow, the trees barren, the temperatures are brisk and the sun sets early...I'm pretty sure that doesn't make any sense but it's the picture I see in my head. You could also probably compare this record to Neil Young, which might make more sense given it is actual music. I often compared his band USX to Young, but that was the more rockin' Crazy Horse era - this obviously sounds much more like Young's folkier output. Not the vocals so much, but the guitar and overall ambiance of the album. "A Great River" runs ten tracks with two covers - one of the Townes Van Zandt song "Kathleen," and an a cappella version of the traditional song "When the Stars Begin to Fall," both fine choices that fit well with the originals.
It will be curious how things progress from here - how USX fans take to this direction of music, how Hall splits his time between the band and solo material going forward, and whether or not I'll ever try to describe music via farming again. Poor metaphors aside, this is a fine album, one I'd recommend.
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