Throwbacks don’t have to be saccharine in nature, and singer/songwriter Neil Nathan is out to prove as much with the release of his new single “You’re My Lady” this summer. Although stylized in a familiar manner that instantly brings to mind the retro sounds of 70’s folk-rock, there’s a straightforwardness to Nathan’s verses and the very manner in which he sings them to us that feels modern and removed from throwback stereotypes. There’s nothing wrong with playing off of a tried and true formula, and if you think there is, you need to hear “You’re My Lady” this July.
A simplistic strumming of the guitar provides the right foundation for every strand of lyrics in this single, and although I detect a bit of excitement in Nathan’s voice as he ascends the chorus, you’ll never catch him jumping the gun on his cues. His timing is spot-on and definitely not the result of a masterful production hand sewing fragmented parts together in post, and as much as I would like to assume that the latter happens most of the time in contemporary indie pop, the exact opposite is undeniably the truth. This singer/songwriter cares about quality, and it’s obvious just listening to him play here.
Watch the video for “You’re My Lady” below
The music video for “You’re My Lady” is pretty eccentric and outside the realm of mainstream cosmetics for certain, but its imagery makes for an intriguing complement to the soundtrack without question. I probably would have had something to complain about here if Nathan would have gone minimalist with the look of the video, being that this is what 90% of his peers have been doing this year, which makes even the more abstract moments this piece contains relatively accessible and even endearing. You can’t accuse him of posing in this video, nor glomming onto someone else’s idea of conceptualism.
I’m really looking forward to hearing more from Neil Nathan as he finds some footing in this next chapter of his ongoing career, and taking into account his 2010 and 2017 albums The Distance Calls and Flowers on the Moon respectively, I think it’s quite clear that he’s matured significantly since the last time we heard from him. Nathan is in a competitive genre that isn’t about to start fading from the headlines anytime soon, but through carefully cultivated musicianship, he’s showing himself to be a profound steward of the old school in great American folk-rock music.
