Nate Norton

Nate Norton wants you to know that you are never alone, whether that's because your tribulations are seen and your experience is shared - or because you're surrounded by things that go bump when the lights go out. Nate's songs rip off the curtains and point the spotlight on it all, including what emerges from the murky depths. Dubbed "apocalyptic folk for the dark night of the soul", his music is an authentic and tenacious dive into the human condition. Fans of Sufjan Stevens, Jose Gonzalez, Iron and Wine, and Tom Waits will find themselves in familiar territory. Nate's classical-and-flamenco-inspired fingerstyle guitar is met with brassy vocals to bellow arduously crafted lyrics rife with themes of duality: anxiety and confidence, depression and rapture, mortality and permanence, longing and love.
Prior to embarking on his solo career in 2023, Nate Norton spent the previous decade fronting the horn-powered soul-and-funk-infused psychedelic rock outfit Lounge on Fire. The release of 2 albums and more than 300 live performances across the western US have seasoned Nate as a musician and performer. Whereas Lounge on Fire has been a high-octane assembly that errs on the side of discord, his eponymous music tames the bedlam into serenity while still maintaining big-band energy.
By the time Nate Norton had relocated from Boise, Idaho to Portland, Oregon in the summer of 2022, he had written nearly three unreleased albums of material since the beginning of the pandemic. Shortly after his arrival, he took some of these songs to the open mic circuit. He received an overwhelmingly positive response there, which cultivated the inspiration to continue his solo act. In early 2023, Nate began releasing a series of one-take acoustic demos of some of the songs on Bandcamp and Soundcloud, as well as his submission to the NPR Tiny Desk Contest, "Fall In Sodom". Nate is currently recording his debut album, with an anticipated release of Fall 2023.