“Penelope” Marks an Experimental New Chapter in the Career of Renowned Songwriter Nat Tate

Nat Tate, photo courtesy the artist

Nat Tate returned in the summer of 2021 with a modest two song single/EP called Penelope. The acclaimed songwriter and guitarist has produced some of the most inventive pop music in a more folk vein in the past several years and their work with experimental pop outfit Chimney Choir helped to realize Tate’s always clear and strong creative vision. Penelope is relatively speaking more minimal but also stripped back to simple and basic elements. The title track is a gentle and affectionate tribute to a loved one that expresses the uncertainties arc of that relationship and Tate’s persona insight and powers of observation in keying in to qualities of personality and behavior that might be missed by an artist with a lower degree of self-awareness. The shuffling percussion and keyboard accents that provide an unconventional melody that is a kind of counterpoint to Tate’s nuanced vocals. “Play Along” and its quivering echo treatment on the lingering fringes of vocals, the toy-like quality of the percussion track with staccato bass marking the boundaries of the melody and spare moody keyboard tones give an unconventionally surreal quality to a song about the ways people will often go along to get along and not question what other people want them to do as long as it isn’t too extreme even if it’s not what they might choose to do themselves. In that way it is one of the most tender calling out of someone’s bad impulses and instincts ever crafted into a song. It all marks a different direction for Tate who, whether it’s acknowledged much or not, has been pushing her own envelope as an artist from the beginning never being able to be pigeonholed in terms of songwriting, musicianship or mode of expression. Thus this is a promising new foray into the songwriter’s career thus far. Listen to “Penelope” and “Play Along” on Bandcamp linked below.