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Jan 03, 2023 By Caleb Campbell

Today, Nathaniel Epp一frontman of the Vancouver indie punk outfit Dead Soft一is sharing the first release under his new solo moniker, Nat. After over a decade of making grunge-laden punk with Dead Soft, his first solo venture sees Epp shifting into an acoustic singer/songwriter mold, leaning on influences from Neil Young and Elliot Smith while shading the record with touches of atmospheric electronics.

Psychopathesque Mixtape Vol. I, Nat’s first full-length record is due out in the spring of this year, and today he has accompanied the announcement with a listen to the record’s first single, “Middleman,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Middleman” is the perfect offering to accompany those post-New Year blues, bringing forth notes of yearning isolation and spare pastoral beauty. The track opens on ramshackle acoustic guitar and Epp’s dreamy falsetto before ascending into a jangly and emphatic chorus. The stark acoustic presence and longing vocals undeniably call to mind Elliot Smith, a comparison made even more apt with the track’s self-effacing lyrics一“Can’t make deals with myself / ‘Cause I’m a dealbreaker / Fingers crossed behind my back handshaker / Blows my mind, I fool myself every time / Like I’m trying to escape some feeling.”

Epp says of the track, “The core of ‘Middleman’ was written a few years ago during some dreary winter times. As I worked on it periodically I would add little pieces and sounds here and there until it slowly came to life. I find it interesting working on a song over a prolonged period of time. It seems to imbue deeper meaning into a song when it is approached from different perspectives and can come to reflect the experiences and lessons learned along the way.”

Check out the song below. Psychopathesque Mixtape Vol. I is due out later this year.