11 Song Album
Nate Ramos is a singer/songwriter based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In his debut LP Across the States, Ramos and his band craft a narrative embedded in visions of the endless American highway soundtracked by layers of gritty Western instrumentals and emotive vocals.
The album opens on a coupling of “Catching Up (Intro)” and “Catching Up”, a meandering, melancholy instrumental followed by a high tempo exposition track which bares an all-consuming yearning for the one you love on the road. Agony which primes to grasp at the mirage of hope dangled for them in track 3, “Across the States (Reimagined)”. Here, the album’s motif comes into sharper view through a daydream of no longer playing “catch up”, an ambling trip on the open highway together, free from any obligation but to take your time. This theme is further explored through vignettes and metaphors, such as the solitude of an 18-wheeler’s cab on a long haul in “Ballad of a Truck Driver (Reimagined)”, the potential of free will in “The Junction”, and living for more than tomorrow in “Crosses on the Highway”. The record’s diversity of love songs is also something of note – while tracks like “Catching Up” and “Meet You at the End of the World” create tension and urgency, they are beautifully contrasted by more care free, tender tracks like “Cranberry Queen” (a New England man indeed), and “Lovin’ You”.
Across the States offers complex, imaginative writing and instrumentals that are thoughtful, and intentional. Each track creates a sense of immersion, as if clicking through a reel of film with a viewfinder, and it leaves my heart satisfied. (Erin Morse)