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.
Some of the more introspective, low-key songs (Still Out There Running, Babe I Know) are less memorable, however, and perhaps a clue as to why his earlier tilts at success came to nothing. But as with that debut album with the Night Sweats, you get the sense that this material only really comes alive on stage.
