EP Premiere: Nate Barksdale “Neon Soul”

Nate Barksdale is a deeply stylish guy.

It’s something we learned on our very first shoot with him a few months back and it’s proven again through the art and music on his new project Neon Soul.

Across five tracks, Nate paints a soulful and futuristic picture of a young man living and loving in Chicago.

Here we break down all of them:

“Ultra Violet” 

“Ultra Violet” (Nate’s opener) with vocals from Victoria Sanchez and Prof, has the funky transcendental bliss of Chance’s “All We Got” infused with Nate’s uniquely dancey groove.

“Alien Love”

“Alien Love” features some of Nate’s most impressive vocal work on the project as he harmonizes with different versions of himself in pursuit of a perfect love song.

“Phoenix, Virginia” 

“Phoenix, Virginia” is the catchiest song on the project with a pop hook that has been looping in our head since we first heard it.

“Water Sign”

“Water Sign” recalls Stevie Wonder at his most ambient and reflective, but it’s really the poppy 80s style drum beat and rhythmic guitar strums that give this song its swing… a groove that we can’t help but dance to.

“Jamie”

“Jamie” featuring Chris Crack and Kyle Scott finds the pensive young men jamming over a haunting violin loop… closing the EP on a more reflective & introspective note that evidences the deep intelligence underlying all of Nate’s work.

Nate will be holding a show at Cole’s Bar tonight alongside Julius Dolls and Melvin Knight to celebrate the release.

Listen to the full EP below and revisit our feature interview with Nate from earlier this year…

Written by Seamus Doheny

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