There’s change in the air for Nathaniel Rateliff. The Denver-born singer-songwriter first made an impression on critics and fans in 2010 with his folky solo debut, In Memory of Loss – and the Bon Iver and Mumford & Sons comparisons flowed in thick and fast.
Now, after releasing follow-up Falling Faster than You Can Run, he’s pivoting from melancholy acoustic reflections to the exuberance of a new project with seven-piece soul band, the Night Sweats. The band’s eponymous debut album gleans inspiration from Otis Redding and Sam & Dave, channeled through the lyrical honesty that has underpinned Rateliff’s work to date.
“I’m trying to do something that’s emotionally charged and heartfelt,” Rateliff said of his new material, “and I want the experience to be joyous, for people to feel excited and dance around instead of being super-bummed by reality.”
Enter SOB, a singalong-ready foot-stomper of a song. Though Rateliff and the Night Sweats’ new album is not released until August, we’re premiering the video for SOB today. Directed by Greg Barnes, it features Rateliff and his band serenading a rapt audience of prisoners in a mess hall, perhaps in homage to Johnny Cash’s prison performances in the 1950s and 1960s.
Have a watch below and let us what you know what you make of the video, handclaps and all.
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats is due out on Stax on 21 August 2015.
