When listening to Young Blood, Old Soul, you can just picture Danny Chaimson and the 11th Hour rocking away the night in some tavern in the New Orleans summer heat. You can almost feel the humidity and their rich, soulful chords seeping into your skin. Yet you may not have known this performer is a UW alum who, after graduating in 1999, moved to Los Angeles to try to make it big. And with Young Blood, Old Soul, Chaimson keeps true to his style of soul-infused rock, and provides 11 songs of musical genius paired with socially relevant lyrics. This album is sure to delight fans and intrigue new listeners.
Part of Chaimson’s charm lies in his ability to infuse music with social commentary. The album jumps off with “Sittin’ by the Bayou,” a song with an upbeat melody, though the lyrics lament the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina. He sings of a couple torn apart, helpless in the torrent of the water: “Just when Sarah got a little feeling there was something/ From the alley in the back she heard her neighbor yell/ ‘The levee done broke!’/ It wasn’t before a minute when the water started making its way/ And Sarah got down on her knees and began to pray.”
Other songs like “L.A., L.A.” and “Charlie Goodtimes” sing of the bittersweet side of life and how “It’s hard to have a good time/ Walking in a straight line/ It’s hard to keep a good mind/ Hiding from the sunshine.”
When he is not making a political statement, Chaimson is singing about the fickle nature of love to the hum of the organ. “I Guess You Met My Baby” mourns the fact the girl he loves is already taken, and “Raise ‘Em Up” is a toast to every guy who has been dumped by the girl he loves. It is hard not to feel his frustration when it has been translated into the whine of an organ paired with the bluesy chords of the electric. He moans that “Just when you thought/ Just when you thought you could/ She started talking all about her baby/ And how he treats her so good.” But unlike many artists who fill their track lists full of relationships gone south, most of his album refreshingly consists of shrewd social commentary.
Musically, most of the songs are as relaxing as they are stimulating. The only song that was a bit of a disappointment was “Bobblehead Girl.” By the fourth minute of “Bobblehead, bobblehead, bobblehead girl/ Bobblehead, bobblehead…” it starts to get lyrically uninteresting and repetitive. But that is only a small complaint compared the overall musical pleasure of this album.
If you like bluesy-rock, then you are sure to enjoy this latest Chaimson album. He and his band weave seamlessly in and out of their soulful songs, perfect for summer listening. Overall, Young Blood, Old Soul, delivers a rich and cultured new twist on ’60s and ’70s style soul-rock that does not disappoint.
4 out of 5 stars.
