The project of Los Angeles sound explorer Patrick McDermott, North Americans appeared in the mid-2010s with a pair of dense experimental drone albums before segueing into a more pastoral guitar-based style on 2018's Going Steady. Signing with Third Man Records, McDermott altered his sound further, pairing up with Portland pedal steel player Barry Walker for 2020's Roped In and its tranquil follow-up, 2023's Long Cool World.

McDermott first began releasing music under the North Americans banner in 2013. One of the earliest releases on Driftless Recordings, the label he co-founded, No_No was a deeply textural, often intense collection that mixed digital drone music with organic ambient composition. Though slightly less harsh in tone, 2015's Legends followed a similar sonic trajectory of long drone-based ambient pieces. Three years later, however, McDermott took the project in an entirely new direction.

While some drone elements remained, 2018's Going Steady was at its core an exploration of American primitive guitar, with McDermott's gentle fingerpicked acoustic instrumentals augmented by a set of collaborators including Julianna Barwick, Hayden Pedigo, and Meg Duffy. Moving from Driftless to the Third Man label, North Americans was recast as a duo on 2020's Roped In, which consisted largely of McDermott on acoustic guitar and synths and Portland musician Barry Walker on pedal steel. This softer, more intentionally melodic guitar-and-steel sound was developed further on 2023's sleepy Long Cool World. ~ Timothy Monger