Nat Baldwin: A Wide-Eyed

Experimentalist Goes Pop

By: Brett Cromwell

Photo By: John-Henry A. Weare

It isn’t very often that a musician comes along and redefines the capabilities of the instrument he’s mastered. Hendrix did it with the electric guitar in the 1960s. Miles with the wah-wah trumpet in the 1970s. More recently, Andrew Bird’s been expanding the limits of the violin. Now, it’s time to add to this short but revered list Portsmouth native Nat Baldwin and his intricate work on the double bass.

Rescuing the oversized string instrument from its traditional comfort zone of orchestra wallflower and muffled rhythm keeper of jazz and bluegrass, Baldwin has confidently

placed the double bass front and center. And as if that weren’t enough, he accents its bowed moans with a unique, high-pitched vocal style best described as a more calculated Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons fame). The result is a sound magically removed from any recognizable time and place, and comfortably circling within its own reality.

According to Baldwin, developing this one-of-a-kind style was inevitable given his instrument of choice. “I don’t think I really had to try too hard, being stuck writing songs with a big bass,” he says from Bar Harbor, Maine, the town to where he recently relocated. “I think if I played a different instrument, I would probably write much differently.”

Judging from the progress that’s been made in his music over the last few years, one may wonder whether or not Baldwin actually has changed the way he composes music. Solo Contrabass, his first solo album, was a 65-minute improvisational exercise following time spent as an experimental free jazz student under Anthony Braxton. “There are so many sounds that can come out of the bass, and the purpose of that CD was really just to document that, in a way,” he says now. “I really love textural and sound-based music, and the versatility the bass provides for that is amazing.”

The release of Solo Contrabass, though an important milestone in Baldwin’s career, also left the young artist in a creative rut. Unsure of which direction to take his music next, he decided to keep himself busy lending bass support to more friends’ projects like Newburyport collective Tiger Saw and NYC’s The Dirty Projectors.

It wasn’t long after these supporting gigs began that Baldwin found his own compositions taking a new turn. Released in 2005, his first album with Broken Sparrow Records, Lights Out, was a collection of eight songs featuring nothing more than his unmistakable trembling falsetto and moody bass playing. It was a sparse affair, and much less experimental than Solo Contrabass. By the time the follow up to Lights Out, Enter the Winter, was released a year later, accompanying instruments like trumpet, cello, and percussion had been added to the mix.

Most Valuable Player, Baldwin’s latest album, due to hit shelves this month, finds him inching even closer to the pop realm. In fact, MVP may be viewed as a near-perfect synthesis of Baldwin’s experimental roots and the pop sensibilities he’s inherited, the most notable difference being the addition of guitars, played by old pals Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors) and Charlie Looker (Zs). Also part of the core band are Brett Deschenes on trumpet and Will Glass on drums, with smaller roles being played by producer Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear) on flute and Matt Bauder on clarinet.

MVP was recorded at Longstreth’s apartment in December 2006, and the sessions were actually an extension of the recording of the latest Dirty Projectors album, Rise Above. “We decided to take an extra week and record MVP,” says Baldwin. “Everyone knew the songs so well, it really didn’t take long. Plus, we put in some really long days.”

With the songs written a year or so prior to these sessions, Baldwin had actually made an earlier recording that he’d thought of releasing. “I’m glad I waited,” he says, “because the songs benefited greatly from the new arrangements and constant performances. The other musicians took it to another level, too, and it wouldn’t be what it is without them. They really added their own creativity to the songs.”

Earlier in 2006, The Dirty Projectors, with Baldwin handling bass duties, had opened for Grizzly Bear on several tour dates. As a result, Baldwin was introduced to Chris Taylor, who would go on to produce Rise Above for the Projectors and MVP. “Chris had a huge effect on the new album,” Baldwin notes. “If it were recorded by someone else, it would have sounded totally different. He has such an amazing ear, and I was very comfortable trusting him in every situation.”

More than just the production, however, it’s Baldwin’s songwriting that truly shines on MVP. In addition to applying the knowledge and confidence he’s gained from extensive touring and performing, Baldwin made a conscious effort to mold his songs into a more organized framework.

“While I was writing these songs, I was definitely aiming to achieve a more ‘pop’ sound, at least structurally. Having a definitive verse and chorus that was strong enough to repeat was important to me — much more so than in the past, when I never really wrote with any kind of ‘formula’ in mind.”

The results are striking. Songs rise and fall with a hint of predictability but with enough twists and turns to remain mysterious. Masters of their craft, Baldwin’s collaborators provide the perfect amount of backdrop without outweighing the true star of the show.

And yet, despite the fact that most songs follow a verse-chorus-verse construction, the style in which the instruments are played and their juxtaposition against one another make recognizing this familiar structure difficult. Even Baldwin’s voice, as much an instrument as anything else in the mix, is used to such effect that lyrics are difficult to decipher.

It’s interesting to learn that, despite his semi-unprecedented vocal style, Baldwin never received formal training for voice as he did with the bass. “I’ve always sung in the same way stylistically, but I’ve worked hard at developing my versatility and technique.” In addition, he’s managed to get a little help from his own songwriting. “One fun part of the [songwriting] process is working with different syllables in a word over different notes/parts of the melodies. I experiment a lot with that to find the right fit, because it’s rare that there will be as many syllables as there are notes.”

After MVP hits shelves, Baldwin will bring his unique sound to venues all over the Northeast and Canada, starting with a release show at The Red Door in his hometown of Portsmouth. Joining him on the road will be album collaborators Brett Deschenes and Will Glass, as well as Nate Horton on cello and Caley Monahon-Ward on violin — both of whom will adapt the guitar parts of the album to their own string instruments. It’s a lineup that sounds as if they’d be more comfortable playing chamber music, but therein lies the appeal.

When asked if he feels the difficulty to easily classify his music is detrimental, Baldwin offers a sincere and effective answer: “Sometimes my music puts me in a position where I’m either too weird or too normal. Though at times that may be detrimental, I also think it leaves room for the possibility of people liking it when they wouldn’t normally think they would.”

For those willing to keep an open mind, Nat Baldwin’s music may open doors in unexpected places. In his hands, the double bass has been given new life that most people would never have predicted.