Nathan Hussey

Ground Me (2013)

RENALDO69

If you loved All Get Out, then you know Nathan Hussey's incredible ability as a songwriter and overall, storyteller. Ground Me is his personal diary and debut solo record. What it also represents is Hussey's take on life and his musical interpretation of the positives and the negatives that music, family and love, sways you to. It's a powerful record with a variety of themes and musical tones that reinforces how underrated he is as a frontman.

It was recorded/mixed at his home in Charleston, South Carolina and he stated it to be 'a collection of songs written on the road during sound checks and long drives with All Get Out over the last couple of years. This is a way for me to write and record in a more "rough around the edges" way and to show fans another side of my writing'. "Angry Man," "Ravanel" and "Intervention" are the most profound 1–2–3 combo and most unexpected in the way they hit home. They open the record beautifully with Hussey's wailing delivery and haunted words.

It's not a record with the same acoustic vibe through and through. Most frontmen now, when going solo, throw out a lot of similar–vibe acoustics, which isn't a bad thing. Derek Archambault and Jim Ward showed this in years past but Hussey takes the lead as he swings through the variety of his studio band –– synthesizers, organs and of course, his patented warm guitar work. His signature, very much paralleled to Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull, on the mic leaves a lasting impression, just as he did with All Get Out. The title track explains it all. Southern poetry.

There are tinges of experimentation which flow seamlessly and never lose the essence of Hussey's messages. It isn't a preachy record, and it's not as wayward as what Geoff Rickly did with his solos (which again, I also loved). He wades into his troubled soul with "Long Bad Days" with his guitar grabbing the handlebars of love, bonds and the lateral darkness of his life. The ride's brought to an end with a breaking voice that instills tears.

Hopefully, All Get Out, even without the amazing Mel Washington, continue to make music, but we can take solace knowing Hussey delivers just as evocative and thought–provoking material by himself. One of the most visceral records of the year. Tons of emotional baggage and he exploits it perfectly. Permutations of Hussey's poetic soul brought out with a guitar. And then some.