“Don’t Call Me Baby” is the stellar new release from Luke Rathborne, the Brooklyn-by-way-of-Maine singer/songwriter who since moving to New York has garnered an impressive following through recent 2015 release Soft. Produced and engineered by Claudius Mittendorfer, with Rathborne co-producing, “Don’t Call Me Baby” features Darren Will on bass, Jamie Alegre on drums, and additional synths by Jimmy Giannopoulos, with Rathborne filling out the arrangement.
The song was recorded in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, in the same studio where Wu Tang Clan recorded “Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)”. “You could really feel the history in the room,” Rathborne said. The track was recorded over one day, using some of the techniques of ’50s recording with a clear inspiration from Roy Orbinson’s “Pretty Woman” and the words of the late great Townes Van Zandt. The track also has a bit of Springsteen in the build-up to an anthemic, key-laden chorus following the verse’s more narrative-laden approach. It’s a solid, throwback rocker from Rathborne.
