The Future

by Nathaniel Rateliff, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats

Overview

Five years into the most successful phase of his career, Nathaniel Rateliff suffered an identity crisis. His bold 2015 transformation from lyrical indie folk act to retro-soul bandleader went about as well as he could have hoped; his full-band debut, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, went gold, effectively launching the Denver singer/songwriter into the mainstream. Their 2018 follow-up, Tearing at the Seams, was similarly successful, but when Rateliff found himself in a more introspective mood, he resumed his solo career and recorded the more subdued and personal And It's Still Alright. Faced with the prospect of having to keep dividing his material between two camps, Rateliff took a gamble and tried to fuse some of the Night Sweats' rock & roll swagger with the more thoughtful tone of his solo work. This creative reckoning leads the band down some interesting paths on The Future, their third outing together. Without fully abandoning the rugged soul-rock of their first two records, Rateliff and his crew take a more exploratory and collaborative approach that is ultimately quite satisfying. Opening the album, the rousing country-soul title track is not only the best of the bunch but one of Rateliff's best tracks to date. A world-weary mid-tempo barn burner with a host of gutsy payoffs, it sets the nervy tone that gives this album its identity. The Night Sweats could easily have carried on churning out the type of retro-R&B party music that built their career, but Rateliff made the right choice in giving them some weightier material to chew on. The question of where to go next is at the heart of the excellent Harry Nilsson-esque "Something Ain't Right," a chunky piano pop gem over which he bellows "Part of me feels I've arrived, but sometimes it don't align." A dark, almost angry grit shades cuts like "Survivor" and the punchy "So Put Out," while the sparse "Baby I Got Your Number" breaks the band down to their core elements. Likewise, the shuffling "Love Me Till I'm Gone" finds the Night Sweats channeling the autumnal blue-eyed soul of Van Morrison, a sound that suits them well. By the time they close with the fiery Motown vamp "Love Don't," Rateliff and his band have covered a nice range of moods on what is their most diverse release yet. ~ Timothy Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	11/05/2021
Label:	Fantasy / Stax
UPC:	0888072276758

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nathaniel Rateliff   Primary Artist,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background),Drums,Piano,Vocals,Keyboards,Wurlitzer,Percussion,Pedal Steel
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats   Primary Artist,Vocals (Background)
Mark Shusterman   Organ (Hammond),Vocals (Background),Keyboards
Luke Mossman   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Kinnie Maveryck   Vocals (Background)
Jeff Dazey   Sax (Tenor),Vocals (Background)
Eric Swanson   Pedal Steel
Patrick Meese   Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background),Drums
Elijah Thomson   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Guitar (Baritone)
Russ Pahl   Pedal Steel
Jenny Lewis   Vocals (Background)
Amelia Meath   Vocals (Background)
Daniel Hardaway   Trumpet,Flugelhorn,Vocals (Background)
Brad Cook   Keyboards
Joseph Pope III   Bass,Guitar (Bass),Vocals (Background)
Jess Wolfe   Vocals (Background)
James Barone   Drums
Andreas Wild   Sax (Baritone),Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Rett Rogers   Design,Photography
Luke Mossman   Group Member
Alex Farrar   Mixing
R.M.B.   Mixing,Producer
Jeff Dazey   Group Member,Horn Arrangements
Doug Spencer   Artwork
Patrick Meese   Composer,Engineer,Recording,Group Member
Mark Shusterman   Group Member
Chris Colbert   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Sam Cohen   Composer
Elijah Thomson   Producer,Additional Production
RMB   Mixing,Producer,Recording Producer
Matt Marshall   A&R
Chris Tetzeli   Management
Nathaniel Rateliff   Composer,Group Member
Daniel Hardaway   Group Member
Brad Cook   Producer,Recording Producer
Joseph Pope III   Group Member
James Barone   Engineer,Recording
Jamie Mefford   Engineer
Andreas Wild   Group Member