Nate Paladino
Good Boy
(self-released)

Nate Paladino is a soft-voiced singer/songwriter with a snap to his lyrics, precise playing and good production sensibility. As he says of his songs, he’s tired of hearing about good people being done wrong in songs, so he decided to write his own.

“Buy Your Heart,” the first tune on this EP, Good Boy, certainly shows the man’s wry sense of humor with a biting lyric floating around electric keys way up front in the mix and subtle drums from Jon Hyrkas.

“Don’t Say Maybe” is ’50s rock and roll territory, again with a fun lyric and Nate wailing on strummed guitar. “Friend in Need’ is a slower ballad with just a lightly-picked acoustic, more of a talking vocal from Nate that’s not so very sardonic, but more poignant; it’s a very effective tune, maybe his best here.

We’re back to that ’50s sound on “My Kind Of Bitch.” I’m not sure if Paladino is after the guitar and organ pushed way up front, almost masking his vocals, but on this tune and a few others here he accomplishes this odd production. (So take it for what it’s worth.)

A much better realized production, with bass really cooking and Paladino singing the best he does in any of these tunes, makes “Something to Prove” a great moving number and probably the most commercial tune here.