North Americans

Los Angeles sound explorer Patrick McDermott launched North Americans in the mid-2010s, issuing two dense experimental drone albums before shifting toward a pastoral guitar-driven approach with the 2018 release Going Steady. After signing to Third Man Records, McDermott continued reshaping the project by teaming with Portland pedal steel player Barry Walker on the 2020 album Roped In and its tranquil 2023 successor, Long Cool World.

McDermott first issued music under the North Americans name in 2013. Among the earliest titles on Driftless Recordings—the label he co-founded—No_No blended digital drone textures with organic ambient composition in a deeply textural and frequently intense set. Legends, arriving in 2015, followed a comparable path of extended drone-based ambient works while adopting a marginally softer tone. Three years afterward McDermott steered the project onto an entirely fresh course.

Although traces of drone lingered, Going Steady centered on American primitive guitar, its understated fingerpicked acoustic pieces enriched by contributions from Julianna Barwick, Hayden Pedigo, and Meg Duffy. Transitioning from Driftless to Third Man, North Americans became a duo on Roped In, featuring McDermott on acoustic guitar and synths alongside Barry Walker’s pedal steel. The resulting gentler and more deliberately melodic guitar-and-steel aesthetic received further refinement on the 2023 album Long Cool World.