Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats - Tearing at the Seams

The Guardian 60

(Stax)

After a decade spent peddling undistinguished Americana to a largely indifferent world, Denver-based Nathaniel Rateliff changed tack in 2015, casting himself as a 1960s soul man. As reinventions go, it was a successful one. Having assembled a crack, seven-piece backing band, the Night Sweats, he got himself signed to the rebooted Stax imprint, released a well-received self-titled debut album and wowed audiences across Europe.

Whereas that debut was effectively a solo project – Rateliff composed most of the parts himself – Tearing at the Seams is more of a collaborative affair, the band writing it together in New Mexico. In places the results are stunning, the horn section giving Coolin’ Out and Be There a real emotional potency. The title track, meanwhile, has echoes of Sam Cooke in Rateliff’s delivery.