The D.M.V. area has always been synonymous with emerging cultural trends from music, to fashion, and even dancing and the past decade has seen the region uplift dozens of emerging acts and mainstream talent alike with the end result being a music scene with immense talent wielding a wide variety of styles. Silver Spring, Maryland native Nate Joël is making his debut in our pages today with his EP KIDS AT HEART which is brief in run-time at only five tracks but is dense in terms of wisdom and tasteful songwriting. He acknowledges the heartbreak and loss associated with growing up and clearly has a very grounded and mature worldview but as the EP’s title suggests he clings to the ideals and ambition of youthfulness, resulting in a particularly lucid but transparent portrait of his current life and the struggles he deals with in his career, love-life, and personal expectations.

The EP is short at only five-tracks but potent in lyricism over varied yet uniform production, courtesy of J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, that is largely subdued and gives Nate Joël the spotlight in full, establishing mellow grooves that drive Joël’s melodies while leaving him a great deal of space to do whatever he pleases vocally, whether it is sweet-singing or more pointed rap verses. “Call Me When You Need Me” is my favorite cut off the project and is the most melodic and introspective song on the tape in my opinion. I really enjoyed this project and am excited to see where Nate Nate Joël takes us in 2022 and would highly recommend his coming of age EP KIDS AT HEART.

Listen here!