nat baldwin

In 2008 double bassist/singer-songwriter Nat Baldwin released Most Valuable Player, an album that led Pitchfork to say "…he brings fierce performances to these polished compositions."  Now 5 years later, Western Vinyl is proud to be releasing the original demos from Most Valuable Player, which were recorded in 2005 and 2006.

The demo album, titled Dome Branches, features Nat's bandmate from Dirty Projectors, David Longstreth on guitar and electronics, Djim Reynolds on guitar, Nathan Horton on drums, Tim Keiper on drums, Matt Bauder on Clarinets, Jessica Pavone on viola.  Throughout these demos, there's a remarkable raw energy stemming at least in part from the fact that Nat hadn't performed any of the material live yet, and Longstreth hadn't heard the songs before, so his guitar parts were made up on the spot.

After studying avant-garde jazz and improvisation with jazz legend Anthony Braxton, Nat Baldwin started writing songs featuring double bass and vocals.  In 2005 he joined Dirty Projectors.  In addition to his work with Dirty Projectors, he has performed on Grizzly Bear's Sheilds, Vampire Weekend's Contra, and Department of Eagles' In Ear Park.  In between touring and recording with Dirty Projectors, Nat made time to record his 2011 album People Changes, an album that led Pitchfork to say "…whether Baldwin is singing with his throat or his bow, there's a thrilling felling of freedom to it all." More recently, he's been writing, recording, and arranging songs for a new album to be released in 2014.  You can hear some of the new material live this September when Nat tours in the US and Canada.

NAT BALDWIN - "Look She Said"

"Lake Erie" from the forthcoming album Dome Branches: The MVP Demos

Nat Baldwin - Lake Erie

In The Hollows is Nat Baldwin's followup to 2011's People Changes.  Despite his busy schedule recording and touring as the bass player for Dirty Projectors, Nat found time to write and record his most soulful and ambitious collection of songs to date.  After recording the initial tracks at Machines With Magnets in Pawtucket, RI, Nat recruited Otto Hauser for drums and percussion, and Rob Moose and Clarice Jensen to write string arrangements.  Discussing the album's production, Nat says "I wanted to achieve a consistency throughout that my past albums have lacked.  I wanted the strings to add to the mournful quality of the songs, weaving their way through the sonic terrain, providing emotional emphasis, but also leaving necessary amounts of space.  Albums by Nick Drake, Judee Sill, Joanna Newsom, Antony & the Johnsons, and Bill Callahan, to name a few, provided inspiration in balancing that intimacy with minimal, but powerful, adornments."   

Much of the album was written while Nat was training for a marathon at his home in Maine.  According to Nat, "I had a pretty rigorous and consistent routine of running/working out early in the morning, and working on music all afternoon/evening.  I also started reading obsessively during this time, as I wasn't moving around much after the morning marathon training.  Some of the songs were inspired by books I was reading, and some were inspired by my lifestyle."  Blending autobiographical details with fiction, the songs cover a wide range of topics including boxing, drowning, bodybuilding, target practice, will power, Steve Prefontaine, competition, separation, isolation, devastation, manipulation, conflagration, intoxication, and suicide. 

Immersive, athletic, and often profound, In the Hollows represents his clearest and most consistent album-length statement, melodically, structurally, and lyrically.  Nat explains that "I hope it is as unsettling as it is beautiful.  I want it to make people feel things they can’t describe."

Nat Baldwin, The Same Thing

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