People Changes by Nat Baldwin
LABEL: Western Vinyl

People Changes, the new record from soulful Dirty Projectors bassist Nat Baldwin, is an intimate, experimental album. The spare sound of the album (most tracks feature only Baldwin’s lilting voice and his bass) reflects the stark setting in which it was recorded. Baldwin isolated himself in a cabin in Maine to record the album, which is sometimes infiltrated by natural sounds like trees rustling or birds calling.

“Though mostly only a man and his bass, the album keeps every turn of the bow intriguing and riveting.”

The album’s opening track, a cover of the Arthur Russell song “A Little Lost,” shows Baldwin at his most tender; his soft voice echoing tender nothings to the audience like: “I’m so busy thinking about kissing you, and I want to do that.” That sort of giddy earnestness does not carry over in the equally stirring second track “Weights,” which uses a saxophone, flute in addition to Baldwin’s setup. Jumping from falsetto range to a deeper, stronger tone, Baldwin’s vocals inject the song with a level of menace underscored by ascending

Baldwin’s album is certainly not absent of turbulence, the harrowing track “Real Fakes” dissolves into a tornado of string scrapings topped by incongruous bursts of Grizzly Bear-like harmonies. The song “Lifted” features similar bursts of noise from a trumpet, saxophone and percussionist, bound up as persistent backing for the song’s sighing chorus. The song also deals with several clashing tempos, a good amount of dissonance and an unclear message. It certainly begs more than just one listen.

But Baldwin’s free-verse musical style is what chiefly separates him from other up-and-coming orchestral pop like the white-boy soul of Ben Sollee or the modern symphonic sound of Owen Pallet. Baldwin studied for seven years under legendary “free jazz” musician Anthony Braxton. He displays this extensive training on the instrumental track “What is There,” which winds from jazz-bass plucking to screeching avant-garde musings, to a feverishly paced fiddle-like climax during which Baldwin must have snapped a string or two.

The album’s closing track, “Let My Spirit Rise,” is a heartfelt lover’s requiem wherein Baldwin’s voice rises from a stormy string rumble. “Kiss me once for everything we can never know,” Baldwin’s breaking voice pleads, every step of the way backed by simple violin arrangement. Baldwin’s voice coos a wordless chorus until abrupt.

Brooding, sincere, and utterly focused, Baldwin has smartly crafted in this, his third solo effort, something that seems at once very personal and still complex. It is an album that gladly spans genres and moods, all while maintaining a cohesive style. Though mostly only a man and his bass, the album keeps every turn of the bow intriguing and riveting.


REVIEWED BY JENNIFER MILLS
JENNIFER’S FAVORITE TRACKS: “A Little Lost” • “Weights” • “Let My Spirit Rise”

FREE MP3: “Weights”