Unveiling a climactic and cinematic folk sound, “Bad Times” is a powerful new single from Nathan El, a solo project based in Morgantown, West Virginia. A simmering textural undercurrent complements a gentle vocal momentum, reminding tonally of a spacious Timber Timbre. Creaky guitar movements send chills as the vocals plead “help me,” — culminating in a fiddle-led folk-rock expanse, the vocals letting out “you’re the one I think about,” in the multi-layered vocal outpouring.
“Bad Times” has us fully anticipating whatever’s next from Nathan Blake, the horticulturist and DIY musician behind the Nathan El project. Its brooding, atmospheric sense of momentum is gripping throughout, culminating in a satiating expanse between ambient folk intrigue and expressive rock emotion. Blake describes the effort as “an ode to the confusion and fear of incremental changes creating a life you don’t recognize, for better or worse.”
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
