Neil Nathan - Flowers on the Moon (2017)

Since emerging in 2008 with his folky cover of ELO’s “Do Ya” – which earned the praise of its legendary composer Jeff Lynne and was included on the Showtime hit “Californication” – the multi-faceted artist Neil Nathan has made an art form out of joyfully schizophrenic record making, jumping seamlessly from genre to genre (blistering rock to gentle acoustic pop).

Praised by UK music and film magazine No Ripcord, as “the bastard stepchild of Jackson Browne and David Bowie,” the NYC singer-songwriter releases his new ethereal, acoustic LP, ‘Flowers on the Moon,’ on April 28. Recorded in Brooklyn and Atlanta, the tracks have been compared to everyone from Cat Stevens, Neil Young, The Byrds and Seals & Crofts to Robert Plant, Flaming Lips, The Kinks, Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket.

Neil beautifully describes the overall vibe that evolved as the project took shape. “Life is short. Art is long. That about sums up the theme of my new record ‘Flowers on the Moon.’ The quote is attributed to Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and this record has been a kind of medicine for me, a healing meditation on the fleeting nature of life. While recording it, I lost my father, and it features a tune I wrote for him and his love of baseball and the Detroit Tigers, ‘Diamond in the Sky.’ The theme of impermanence flows through each song: relationships, seasons, life, death.”

Neil continues his fascination with the Motor City, and includes his cover of Detroit Singer Songwriter Rodriguez’s Sugar Man on the album. Holger Brockman, the DJ who broke the song in Australia in 1975 approves, "Neil's version is great!"

Neil also recorded his debut LP, The Distance Calls in Detroit Rock City. Produced by Garage Rock Hero Bobby Harlow (King Tuff, The Go), it featured musicians from Queens of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather, The Go, King Tuff, and Detroit Cobras. The album’s track “California Run” was featured on ESPN and NHL Network, and was spun live at San Francisco Giants games. Neil’s former roommate, actress Rosario Dawson, guest starred in the music video.

Neil’s fiery follow-up, the power to the people concept LP, ‘Sweep The Nation,’ earned critical praise as a “scintillating master work” and a “crunchy hard rocking masterpiece,” and was called “Impressive” by both Magnet Magazine and Vinyl District. And Huffington Post called his claymation “Jumpstart” music video from the record, “a bizarre good time.”