Though musicians have shined in sharing the spotlight with their respective bandmates, Nathan’s Brother (Maurice van der Linden) who prides himself as a one-man show doesn’t seem too interested in fame as history reveals most famous music groups break up due to jealousy, conflict, and overshadowing the stage.
His debut album, Spot On is an intimate collection of recordings that sheds light on failed romances and relationships that the reclusive singer/songwriter has been in and out of without a dire stroke of luck.
Incorporating thought into the opening track, “Mind at Ease”, it expresses a feel good rote groove with comfortable vocals that piece together a story about a busy disadvantaged man in need of discovering a solution to his busybody lifestyle that forces him to be “always on the run” with no time to think.
“Front Man Veto” on the other side is pure instrumental grunge while the record is still spinning in its changing rotation, breaking a middle ground and causing the album to have two polar halves, the second half for more experimental jams. Nathan’s Brother as his own full band purposely titled this track, “Front Man Veto”. The reclusive one-man frontman exercised his decision of refusing to draw back towards a familiar collaborative past.
Then there’s the applauded curtain call to end the penultimate British-folk rock song, “Echoes of Goodbye”, whose name exudes an emotional subject matter of saying “goodbye;” a final parting of an intimate lovers voice now estranged and echoing through the mind of an enduring heart, yet broken man. Like the expressive lyrics of “I’m out of yours, but you’re never out of mind,” he continues to have many lonely days and wasted praise of an injustice to wait on something that may never be again.
