Turmoil and Reset - Nathaniel Sutton’s ‘A Brighter Sound’
A collection of songs is always a marker of where a songwriter is at during that particular time of their life. For Nathaniel Sutton, his latest EP ‘A Brighter Sound’ dates mostly from the pandemic, which has its own associated memories for everyone. For Sutton, these songs focus not on that worldwide struggle, but a hardship more personal in his marriage coming to an end. But where one chapter ends, another surely begins.
Image Credit: Megan Peuramaki at Treelines Photography.
We previously wrote about Nathaniel Sutton’s single ‘The Metaphor’ when we premiered his music video for the song back in April. Historically, the Canadian composer and multi-instrumentalist has had much experience in touring bands, but more recently Sutton’s attention has been turned to composing soundtrack music. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Nathaniel uses all manner of acoustic and electric instruments to craft his sound, including guitars, synthesizers, tape machines and samplers, with pedals playing a big part. These elements are also put to good use in this EP.
When we spoke to Nathaniel about ‘The Metaphor’, he told us what to expect from his forthcoming EP at the time:
‘I've been sitting on these songs since 2020, waiting for the right time to release them. I've since healed from this past relationship, turned heartbreak into art and it finally feels ready to share this music with the masses.’
Having released three singles from the EP prior to its release, ‘A Brighter Sound’ opens with the first of these, entitled ‘Razor Blades’.
‘Razor Blades’ begins with a mixture of rhythmic acoustic guitar and distant electric guitar, creating depth to the recording. References can be heard immediately to Sutton’s relationship in the first verse, ‘Time is up and I lost, am I not who I was? Because you left me here all the same, you cut me with Razor Blades.’
The first single takes time to build, carefully breaking down the acoustic elements before building up with drums. Though the focus remains on Nathaniel Sutton’s achingly honest vocal performance, beneath the track is swathed in atmospheric reverberation, a studio tool you’ll come to know as characteristic of Sutton’s sound. This still leaves space for the reedy vibration of accordion, striking out in the mix. Nathaniel’s repeated line of ‘You left me here’ leaves the listener in no doubt what the lyric transparently refers to.
The music video by Daelan Wood brings that final lyric to life. Utilising a drone, Daelan expands the landscape upwards, leaving Nathaniel Sutton behind alone in backdrops both beautiful and concrete. The varying colours of nature become all the more apparent when compared to the bleakness of the grey manmade counterpart.
Nathaniel takes a different approach with ‘Animals’, the EP’s second single. With piano as its backbone, Sutton possibly refers to the pandemic throughout this song, ‘We were like Animals, running around just trying to survive, then the end came and it ate us all alive…’ The lyric also brings into focus how that time personally affected Nathaniel’s relationship, ‘Now I don't remember you, and you don't remember me, that's the way it is now.’
Instead of taking the easy route with his drum performance, Sutton brings distinctive flair with his rhythm, no doubt a product of watching drummers at work during his touring years. With the drums come other sounds that widen the scope of this song - listen carefully for the sustained guitar and pad keyboards. The moments between the lyric are just as important as the words themselves.
‘Animals’ single artwork by Megan Peuramaki at Treelines Photography.
In his lyrical journey, Nathaniel switches tact in the final moments of ‘Animals’ from the ‘You left me here’ of ‘Razor Blades’ to ‘I won’t come back for you when I wake up’ in this song. ‘A Brighter Sound’ is all about coming to terms with this loss and moving on, and the listener hears it for the first time here.
With mood lighting, Nathaniel Sutton takes to a grand piano in a video shot by Daryl Payne of Payner Media. The music video is simpler in its approach than ‘Razor Blades’, centring on the lyric and its meaning to the viewer.
‘I’ve been looking for you All Night…’
The first of the new tracks on ‘A Brighter Sound’ is ‘All Night’, a song which takes the most electronic direction on this EP. Recorded with Randor Lin at Velveteen Audio, the pair shapeshifts Nathaniel Sutton’s voice for this track, replaying back to the listener like a text message you read over and over.
In its short, repeated verse, ‘All Night’ tells a story which has potential to be expanded on in a music video – ‘I've been looking for you everywhere, I don't want to fight, I don't really care what happened, it happened so fast…’ The song is to the point, with a simple chord structure that leans more on the lyric rather than the interplay of the instruments. This brings variety to an EP whose singles have a band orientated sound, allowing Nathaniel Sutton’s tendencies as a composer and arranger to come to the fore.
‘In Ruins’ is different still. It’s this song from which the title of the EP is taken, ‘Oh, give me A Brighter Sound, I am In Ruins, I am In Ruins.’ This track is simple like ‘All Night’, but for a different reason. Here, ‘In Ruins’ is put out almost purely as an acoustic piece, as if you’re hearing it in its rawest form, the way it was written.
You can feel how this music tumbled out, like Nathaniel Sutton woke up, picked up his guitar and wrote this song, ‘I had a dream about you last night, it felt so real I couldn't tell it was a dream, but I remember your face clearly.’
‘In Ruins’ feels like something of a turning point, a light-bulb moment that is the EP’s artwork by Megan Peuramaki of Treelines Photography, brought to life in this music video. This song sets up the EP’s final track perfectly.
We previously wrote about ‘The Metaphor’ in April when we premiered Nathaniel Sutton’s music video for the track. Here’s what he had to say about it then:
“‘The Metaphor’ is a song about contemplating past events and how some memories are conceived as metaphors. ‘There's a hole in my heart like the hole in the door’ is an example of this, taking the listener through a story of a relationship that is no more. It's a sentimental song with heartfelt lyrics and melodies, written to convey the emotions of a broken heart.”
‘The Metaphor’ is the perfect way to end ‘A Brighter Sound’, because of its retrospective lyric, the idea of ‘Take me back to a place I know’ being the way a person goes forward. Sometimes comfort in our past, in good memories with family and friends, is what helps us find where we need to go next when things don’t work out the way we plan. This message is delivered in a way that lifts the listener up, bringing back the band sound of the earlier songs on this EP, and translating this in a literal way through Sutton’s use of home footage in his music video.
Nathaniel Sutton’s story told in ‘A Brighter Sound’ is not unique, but this is why it is so relatable. Most of us have experienced heartbreak, of feeling our world collapsing and not knowing where it leaves us. However, it’s Sutton’s ability to tell this story in a way that avoids becoming too personal or melancholic that makes it stand out. In less than twenty minutes, Nathaniel Sutton condenses a journey of turmoil and reset into five songs that work independently of each other, but provide a sense of clarity and greater meaning when listened to as a whole.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Nathaniel Sutton. We discuss the writing origins of ‘A Brighter Sound’, of working with Randor Lin and shooting the ‘Razor Blades’ music video. We also ask about performing live, Sutton’s soundtrack work and his thoughts on AI music. All this and more below!
‘A Brighter Sound’ EP artwork by Megan Peuramaki at Treelines Photography.
1. I'll start by saying, this is a great collection of songs. What about the lyric from 'In Ruins' jumped out at you to name this EP 'A Brighter Sound'?
Thank you so much! “In Ruins” was one of the first songs that I had written after my separation, the lyrics seemed to flow in such a poetic way for me. I’m a huge fan of Ben Gibbard and the way he writes music for Death Cab for Cutie. I’ve always wanted to write music like that and I think I’ve sort of achieved that with this EP. When I was writing lyrics for the chorus of “In Ruins”, the words “give me a brighter sound” really resonated with me. The music I was writing for this EP already had quite dark undertones and I wanted to give it a sense of hope, so I called it “A Brighter Sound”.
2. What was the first song written for the EP? Did it tumble out or was there some refining involved?
The very first song that I had written for this EP was “Razor Blades”. I actually still have the original demo recording on my iPhone from July 25th, 2020. I’m listening to the recording right now - so it seems I had the first verse and chorus written but that was it at the time. I eventually figured out a second verse and added a bridge to make the song complete. The initial idea was there but it definitely took a little bit more refining afterwards.
3. 'A Brighter Sound' was recorded by Randor Lin at Velveteen Audio, what was that experience like? How long did the whole process take there?
I absolutely love working with Randor Lin, he is really helpful when it comes to overall production values and bringing in fresh ideas. I’ve known Randor since 2014, back when I used to play in other bands and we just clicked right away. He’s my go-to guy whenever I need to do studio work.
Once I had all the songs ready, I started recording this EP with Randor Lin in October 2020 and we finished the final mixes by November 2020. During that time, we recorded guitar, piano, drums and vocals. The process went smoothly, I like to come prepared with the songs that I bring into the studio to make the process as smooth as possible. Which means I typically have the structure of the songs already refined and I’ll even have a rough recording of the song ready to work from.
‘Razor Blades’ single artwork by Megan Peuramaki at Treelines Photography.
4. The video for 'Razor Blades' by Daelan Wood features some gorgeous landscapes. Tell me about making that, was that all shot locally to you?
This is another instance where I’ve known Daelan Wood for years, dating back to my days of playing in other bands. He used to film live performances from different local bands, through an entity called “The Northern Sessions”. He did such great work and I know he dabbled in drone work, so I decided to reach out and see if he’d like to collaborate with me in making a music video for “Razor Blades”. He happily agreed and all the locations filmed in that music video are spots found locally in Edmonton, AB. It all came together really nicely and Daelan has always been a pleasure to work with. I actually composed music for him and Carolina Stokes in this short documentary called “Normalizing Awkwardness”.
We want to do more work together, so we’ll see what the future brings!
5. The EP also brings together a couple of new songs, including 'All Night'. How did you create the effect on your voice that opens the song?
When I work with Randor Lin in the studio, we like to experiment sometimes. This is one of those times where he took the vocals I recorded with him and processed them through a synth plug-in. At first, I wasn’t sure what I thought about it, but I eventually discovered that I loved it. It brought in some variety and uniqueness to the EP. I’d say it’s something that might catch the listener off-guard, strategically placed into the middle of the EP.
‘The Metaphor’ single artwork by Megan Peuramaki at Treelines Photography.
6. Of course we've spoken about 'The Metaphor' already, but what about this song felt like it should close this EP?
It’s one of the more “brighter” songs on the EP so it felt suiting to end it on a lighter note. Also, I just love the instrumental ending of “The Metaphor”, what better way to end an EP than with some uplifting guitar riffs and post rock ambience.
7. You've done some in studio performance cuts of the singles for your YouTube channel, how do you get your guitar to endlessly sustain like that? It's very shoegaze.
I’m a fan of guitar pedals, I’ll sometimes experiment with them in making ambient, drone(y) guitar sounds. So, that can explain the reasoning for the endless sustain, using pedals like Strymon’s Big Sky is great for getting that big reverb sound. There’s also plenty of effects you can use through any DAW to get that wonderfully endless sustain. Very shoegaze indeed. I have a whole playlist on my YouTube channel dedicated to experimenting with all kinds of sounds using various guitar pedals.
8. You've played some gigs in support of this EP too, what do you enjoy most about performing live?
Yes, just getting back into playing shows for the first time in years and it’s been amazing. I performed my “A Brighter Sound” EP release show at Felice Cafe in Edmonton this month, followed by some busking gigs and will soon be playing a couple more shows this month in support of the release. There’s many aspects of performing live that I enjoy but mostly, I’d say the response and feedback, knowing that I am impacting others in a positive way is the best kind of joy. I’ve had people reach out, telling me they’ve gone through similar experiences as me and it’s nice being able to connect to an audience in such a personal way.
9. In addition to the kind of songwriting you've done here, you also have a different kind of music career in soundtracking. What's been the most exciting project to work on in that department?
That’s something I’m still working hard at behind the scenes. I’ve been fortunate enough to create compositions for all kinds of film projects ranging from short films to documentaries. It’s something I am very passionate about and I absolutely love collaborating with filmmakers to create an optimal final product, both visually and sound-wise. The most exciting project is hard to choose but I’ve been recently working with a filmmaker based in Ireland who has created an exciting short film, I can’t say much about it at this time but I composed original music for it that I’m proud of.
10. It's been interesting to see everyone's take on AI music recently, what's your perspective on its potential use?
When AI was initially introduced to the world, I’ll admit I was intrigued. Now, with it being so convincing in terms of AI artwork, music, voices, deep fakes, it’s actually getting to be a little scary now. Being able to tell real life from AI is becoming more difficult by the day, I don’t think I’m onboard with this new AI era but it seems like it’s here to stay and will only become more advanced as time goes on. I just hope creators don’t get discouraged, because we still need artists, designers, musicians, etc. There’s still things AI can never replace.
11. With such a huge outpouring of emotion in these five songs, what happens next? Have you carried on writing?
I’m so excited! Because I can now focus on creating music that isn’t so heavy, I already have some music in the works that is a bit more playful and fun. I’m constantly writing and I’m a very prolific songwriter. It all takes time to record, produce and strategize but I’m hoping to release a full-length next. For now, I’ll just keep composing music for visual media and spreading the word of “A Brighter Sound”.
--------
‘A Brighter Sound’ by Nathaniel Sutton is available to stream, download and buy on CD and vinyl from his Bandcamp page.
For more information about Nathaniel Sutton, visit his official website.
Follow Nathaniel Sutton on Facebook and Instagram @nathanielsuttonmusic, or on Twitter @nathanielsutton.
--------
Follow and interact with Moths and Giraffes on Instagram and Facebook @mothsandgiraffes, and on Twitter @mothsgiraffes.
We have a Spotify Playlist! Featuring almost every artist we've written about on Moths and Giraffes, find some new music here.
For submissions, or if you’d just like to send us your thoughts, don’t hesitate to contact us via our social media accounts, our contact page, or via email at mothsandgiraffes@outlook.com. We receive a lot of emails though, so please bear with us!
--------
Do you like what you heard here? Then check out the music from these artists we’ve written about!
