The new single from Nathan Graham is full of soothing grooves and soulful character. ‘Somebody Else’ is brilliantly crafted music, a perfect vehicle for Graham’s memorable, timeless vocal. Accompanied by Cody Messick on rhythm guitar, bass from John MacNeil and Ian Tsan on drums, Graham delivers a textured, absorbing song, a highlight of which is Graham’s winding, mellow solo halfway through. The well shot video gives us a sense of what it was like to be part of rehearsing and recording in the studio.
Graham says of the song: “‘Somebody Else’ is not a relationship song. Well, not in the traditional way. I wrote this to personify the relationship between a person and their art and the success they would like to have in it. It’s that pull to keep going and one day you will catch up with your dreams. ‘Sick of waiting on your call’ plays on the old saying of ‘when success calls will you answer it?’ Chasing a dream can sometimes feel like chasing a person that leads you on.”
The Chicago singer-songwriter has opened for acts like Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams and The Wallflowers and, as he steadily builds a fanbase and gains recognition, he’s hoping to change people’s perceptions of what a singer-songwriter can be. Graham explains: “When people hear ‘singer-songwriter,’ they typically think of somebody who is white, middle-aged, male. But greats like Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross, Lauryn Hill and even J. Cole deserve to be reframed as a part of the genre just as much as someone like Bob Dylan. They’re doing it in a different way, but they’re doing the same exact thing: they’re using their voice to tell a story.” The album is populated by such stories of life, love, regret and heartbreak.
This is the second single from ‘Saint of Second Chances’, Nathan’s debut album, which is due out on 20th October 2023. Check it out.
