***North Americans—the project of Los Angeles guitarist Patrick McDermott and Portland’s Barry Walker on pedal steel—release their new album Long Cool World. As North Americans, McDermott has been experimenting with drone and noise and how it can take shape, and then jettison that shape, since 2013’s No_No, but it’s when he embraced his love of fingerpicked guitar and vintage country music on 2018’s Going Steady that he settled on a sound that felt like a genuine melding of his disparate musical interests. 2020’s Roped In was another creative milestone: with Walker and a host of other collaborators, including harpist Mary Lattimore, and guitarist William Tyler, among others, creating a communal, layered approach to each track that felt vital as the world dipped into isolation during a global pandemic. “I knew that for this one I wanted to dial up some of the textures and experimentation,” McDermott says. In order to do that, Long Cool World strips away most of the musical collaborators, allowing Walker and McDermott to settle on an approach that is at once intricate and simple, creating hypnotic music that loops and layers, with subtle shimmers of noise or quiet psychedelic freakouts hiding beneath McDermott’s unshowy but emotionally affecting guitarwork and Walker’s pedal steel hum. The duo refined their collaborative relationship as well, with McDermott sending isolated guitar tracks to Walker, who then listened to them while on drives and walks around Portland, before going into the studio with only a loose sense of what he wanted to...
LP $26.95
04/21/2023
***Third Man Records proudly reissues Northern Americans album Going Steady. Originally released in 2018 in extremely limited numbers, Going Steady features North American's main man Patrick McDermott playing acoustic guitar and moog alongside contributions from Meg Duffy, Juliana Barwick, Hayden Pedigo, Dylan Baldy, and Joel Williams creating a gorgeous dusky instrumental album of cosmic pastoral sounds. Each song on Going Steady glimmers and shines, and taken in it's entirety is like a beautiful sunset transforming into a star-filled evening. This album has soundtracked countless late-night conversations on my front porch in Tennessee, as well as the next morning's coffee and sunrise. It is the American Songbook read, ingested and transformed into something completely new for our post-everything world. Featuring ground-breaking artwork from underground artist, Brian Blomerth, Going Steady is an album to stimulate all of your senses, a gorgeous and centering listen and a much-needed album in any collection of freak-folk or acoustic American albums.
LP $18.75
10/22/2021
***PATRICK MCDERMOTT began his NORTH AMERICANS project with two albums: 2013’s No_No, and 2015’s Legends. Both records were dense affairs, with blocks of sound shifting and moving like melting glaciers to create a gorgeous, impenetrable, collection of digital drones. Though they sounded nothing like what would come a bit later, both records showcased McDermott’s understanding of mood and composition. On 2018’s Going Steady, McDermott blended his love of American Primitive guitar playing with playful pieces that never overstayed their welcome. He also began collaborating with a wide range of artists: from Julianna Barwick to guitar prodigy Hayden Pedigo, as well as Cloud Nothings’ Dylan Baldi, and more. Now, two years later, McDermott is releasing Roped In, a gorgeous, intimate, and often spare album that pulls back from the collaborative nature established on Going Steady for a collection of fragile drone pieces anchored by McDermott’s intricate but direct guitar playing and haunting pedal steel work from Portland, Oregon’s BARRY WALKER. Where Going Steady was brimming with ideas and micromovements, Roped In is relatively sparse, built on patience and the kind of once-in-a-lifetime collaborative energy between McDermott and Walker, and accented by occasional collaborations from harpist MARY LATTIMORE and guitarist WILLIAM TYLER.
LP $18.75
10/09/2020