Words like 'extrovert' clearly don't feature in NATHAN BURTON'S dictionary. The Manchester-based Welsh ex-pat writes gentle, beguiling songs, but seems entirely nonchalent about getting them to a wider audience. Hell, in the negative image that adorns the sleeve of his debut EP he looks like he's trying to shrink into the white, away from view altogether.
But then, in a world full of Johnny Borrells and Pete Dohertys, it's also good to know that there are performers out there happy to let us come to them. In Nathan Burton's case, this seems like a good idea, for his attractively unassuming tunes are quiet things of wonder; happy to embrace you slowly from behind rather than thrust themselves drooling into your face at the slightest provocation.
"It's Hard To Sell Your House (When It's Part Of A Chain)" is also the EP's lead cut and it's as close to pop as Nathan gets this time out. It's an easy-going strummer that swings by like a summer breeze and slides in somewhere between I Am Kloot at their most mellifluous and Northern Ambition labelmates The Beans' trademark mellow pop. The Neil Young-style harmonica blast mid-way through is a welcome interruption, and Burton's low-key delivery is nigh-on perfect, as are the warm, west-coast harmonies.
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The two accompanying tracks are even more fragile, acoustic affairs, but quietly determined in their own diligently pretty way. Both of these - "Lucky #1" and "Seeing It Through"- were produced by ex-Stone Roses/ Pulp man Simon Dawson and remind a little of Elliott Smith in less intense mode (not least the very Smith-esque chord sequence and breathy delivery of "Seeing It Through") yet still come on like introverted little gems in their own right.
Nathan Burton, then, won't grab the world by the scruff of the neck and shake it until it succumbs. He won't even bang aggressively on the door of stardom. But he may well ease a calling card underneath it before he quietly slips away. I'd suggest you read it and remember his name.
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