Nathaniel Sutton’s excellent new album The Days weaves between dynamic full-band arrangements and more introspective acoustic moments. Across its reflections on growing up, love, loss, and letting go, the record gradually shifts from memories of the past toward an appreciation of the present and anticipation for whatever comes next, with collaborations from Ellie Heath, Lily Monaghan, and Salty Auntie adding further voices to its journey.
A glowing effervescence flows into steady acoustic strums as the album opens with “The Passenger,” a cathartic showcase in songwriting that embraces self-freedom and an adventurous spirit, captured through a road trip with a beloved. “We don’t need a map, to get to where we’re going” Sutton’s delivery resonates, fixating on “destination nowhere” as an ultimate goal while thumping percussion and warming electric guitar infuse seamlessly. Descriptions of sunshine flow into wordless melodic soaring as the conclusion approaches, making for a resonant, atmospheric folk entrancement that thematically stirs in its carpe-diem spirit. The ensuing “Vintage Glow” compels as well, fusing twinkles of piano with dreamy synths, fondly resembling a more electronic-embracing The National amidst retrospective lyricism.
“Vintage Glow” is among several standout efforts on the album that explore the many emotions of adolescence, from awkwardness to comforting nostalgia. “1995” admits to not knowing “where the years have gone” while beckoning to “take me back to the world I used to know.” In a tumultuous modern world, rife with technology and strife, the references to flip-phones and reminiscing with old friends make for an impactful listening experience. The mixture of folk-forward contemplations and Ellie Heath’s soaring harmonic additions — “I feel alive, when I go inside a thrift store” — results in a dynamic, melodic success. The featured “So Cool” also envelops with a similar, past-looking reverence.
The blissfully atmospheric “Back When” furthers those perspectives of easier times. “Life was easier then, back when I was a kid,” Sutton’s lines traverse alongside spacey synths and clacking, subdued rhythms. The album ruminates on what once was, with touches of melancholy and yearning, though with also an appreciation for what transpired. The Lily Monaghan-featured “Hurricane” tackles the mantra that endings come with new beginnings, weary of its reality as acoustic strums and twangy guitars delight alongside the performers. “I met my future self within a dream,” Monaghan sings, looking to the future rather than several of the tracks’ fixation on the past. It’s a consuming showcase in songwriting, exemplary of a shift to anticipating what’s to come.
Album finale “Threshold” furthers this in its closing lines, in “I can’t wait to see what’s in store when I open the next door, what could there be on the other side of this threshold.” Riveting in its themes of reflection yet also letting go of an encumbered past, The Days is a fantastic display of songwriting and melodic allure from Nathaniel Sutton.
