Nathan & Stephen

The field of atmospheric pop is horribly crowded at the moment. And it only gets worse every time some trendy would-be hipster kid picks up a keyboard and adds it to indie-rock instrumentation. You'd think with the glut of similarly sounding music that nothing new or interesting could emerge. But...

By Tom Murphy

October 12, 2006

Audio By Carbonatix

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The field of atmospheric pop is horribly crowded at the moment. And it only gets worse every time some trendy would-be hipster kid picks up a keyboard and adds it to indie-rock instrumentation. You'd think with the glut of similarly sounding music that nothing new or interesting could emerge. But every once in a while, a group comes along and takes a worn-out approach and makes it seem vital again. Nathan & Stephen (due at the hi-dive on Friday, October 13) is one such band. Incredibly polished and completely unaffected, Nathan & Stephen's lush and moving songs are the stuff dreams are made of. If Top 40 radio were rampant with this type of musical invention and masterful songcraft...ah, now that would truly be a dream.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker