Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats show us that The Future is bright

The title-track starts off proceedings and sets the mood perfectly: there’s warm swells of brass, dreamy slide guitar, the rhythmic strum of acoustic guitars, and Nathaniel Rateliff baying to the heavens. It’s followed by the record’s lead single “Survivor”, a hard-hitting foot stomper through which Rateliff sneers and barks. And so, The Future has begun. Head further in, and you’ll find the cooing comfort of softer moments with “Face Down In The Moment” and “Something Ain’t Right”, the breezy sway of the lounge-y “Baby I Got Your Number”, and get swept up by the buoyant “I’m On Your Side” - its chorus exploding into life as the group’s brass brigade take charge.

Boisterous closer “Love Don’t” leaves no doubt that the Night Sweats are revelling in being a unit once again, after having spent the past few years apart, and they’re all the better for it. Their bluesy soul is being delivered with newfound heart, spirit and zeal, one that makes The Future jubilantly bright - just the vision we all need after the bleakness of the past year.