Nathan Xander – The Fear

It’s hard to pin down exactly what makes the music of Nathan Xander worthwhile. On first listen, the songs seem to flow casually by with no lasting impression. The arrangements are sparse, and often feature Xander alone with his guitar. However, certain things stick in the mind and demand redressing, and on the second listen they casually grow into something unique.

Perhaps this is because so many aspects of Xander’s music are understated. Xander’s voice is at once wistful and confident – pleasantly passing through like slow tires on a gravel road, it is able to elicit nostalgia and hope. This is a tricky line to walk especially when considering that the lyrical subject matter is often weighed down by the mundane. In The Fear’s opening track, “October,” for instance, Xander nostalgically laments autumnal images as he supplicates himself to a woman for strength to face the ominous road. A simple yet sufficing meandering guitar picking and a forlorn harmonica compliment his singing, and image and delivery combine into a mural of fall.

Nathan Xander’s music is also effectively personal. It comes as no surprise to hear that for The Fear, Xander used up all of his savings to buy studio time. His spirit is invested in every song as he exposes (instead of announces) a flowing current of wisdom and youthful apprehension. On “Dark Horses,” the album’s most upbeat tune, he flails at inevitable deterioration singing, “It takes time to fall.” Xander seems to draw confidence from the song’s tempo and gains momentary transcendence from pensive drudgery.

Many of The Fear’s songs take inspiration from an Americana tradition. “The Alchemist” presents a bluesy swagger with romping toms and a heavy kick as Xander sings with reverbed ferocity. “John Wayne” delves into the traditional cowboy ballad. With echoed and doubled vocals the song sounds more forlorn than convincing as Xander states, “I’m feelin’ kinda untouchable/ Kinda like John Wayne.” This is actually one of the few songs on the album that seems to fall short of its intentions. It lacks the backbone and hip shooting cowboy character that it stretches for. However, this song, along with others such as “Emerald Cities” and “October,” do capture the forlorn wanderlust of the American road.

Despite the strength of the album’s more tradition-influenced songs, tunes on the album that truly stand out are ones that depart from this tradition and find a voice of their own. Songs such as “True Love Never Did Run Smooth” and “Emerald Cities” show off Xander’s penchant for guitar parts that walk an idiosyncratic line – retaining enough melody to keep them in the realm of catchy. On “Trial By Fire” Xander mourns the ambiguous pursuit of fame and the fading music industry saying, “Inspiration brings a grand fortune but baby it don’t come easy.” The song explores the fall-out of an age in which everyone has the capacity and tools to pursue music. It is able to reshape tradition into extant commentary.

By album’s end, it remains ambiguous as to what “fear” Xander is addressing. At the core of this fear, however, is a tremendous amount of uncertainty. This uncertainty not only surrounds Xander’s personal associations and songwriting, but also the future of music in general. As Xander points out in “Trial by Fire,” “All the old masters are either dead of getting close.” It is hard to determine where that leaves singers such as Nathan Xander. Whatever this fear is, however, Xander has harnessed it to establish himself as a truly American songwriter.

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Tagged as: Americana, Chicago, Country, Folk

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