CD Review: Throwing Pennies in the Ocean – Chris Nathan

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on CD Review: Throwing Pennies in the Ocean – Chris Nathan
HYPE Music

 

Throwing Pennies in the Ocean – Chris Nathan (HYPE Music, 2012)

After having teamed up with MTV’s Extreme Music and HYPE Music, Chris Nathan has released his new EP, Throwing Pennies in the Ocean. This five-track offering serves up high quality neo-soul by one of the most accomplished performers in Nashville today.

With blues and old-school R&B influences at its foundation, this collection is a thoroughly modern interpretation of soul music. Creative melodies and lyrics make the songs sound fresh and pleasantly unpredictable. Effervescent opener ‘Just Comes Natural’ establishes for the listener not only the vibe of the record but also Nathan’s personality. By the time he confidently states ‘I roll my own dice/I name my own price/consider me peerless,’ in the second verse, he has already convinced you of exactly that. Piano-based ballad, ‘Baby Are You With Me,’ is the heart of this record, while ‘Buy the Good Life’ fantasizes about packing up the old life and heading out west for adventures new, and does so with an irresistibly funky mid-tempo groove.

Fans will recognize two of these tracks from the 2010 release, Sugarcane, dressed up in new arrangements. ‘Someone I Used to Know’ benefits greatly from a bigger production. The measured layering of instruments lets the song build momentum from verse to verse, before unleashing the pent-up emotions near the end. ‘Sunshine and Alcohol’ was embellished with a brass section; an embellishment it doesn’t really need as this ‘I need a vacation from my vacation’ tune, sounds more effective when it is wrapped in a smaller production.

Throwing Pennies in the Ocean is a wonderful piece of contemporary soul which will hopefully be followed up by a full project in the near future.

 

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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