Zach Phillips - The Wine Of Youth (2020)

It's been a long time since I've heard anything like The Wine of Youth, Zach Phillips' third album overall and his first in thirteen years. It's a record for those of us who grew up on 70s singer-songwriters. The reason for that statement should be obvious to anyone who is familiar with the music the San Diego resident and native Chicagoan makes. 

It's been written that Phillips' sound is reminiscent of Dan Fogelberg and Jackson Browne. Both descriptions fit although the Fogelberg comparison is far more accurate.

The Wine of Youth is a beautiful sounding, melodic, thirteen song set of electric and acoustic Americana music with a little bit of perfectly placed Laurel Canyon harmonies that make you want to listen to the opaque lyrics.

Back in the day artists would write about the Golden State in a way nobody would ever rhapsodize about places like Connecticut, Kansas, or Delaware and Phillips proves that is sometimes still the case. The album possesses a vibe that is distinctly Californian yet he doesn't idealize America's most populous state even though you know he loves it and has no plans to live anywhere else. He said that the album is about the "old, weird California of the desert, mountains, spiritualists and lovers. The California that taketh and giveth away, over and over again."

"Hey, San Diego," and "Cascadia" prove how much Phillips reveres his adopted home. He lets us know that the ocean is more than a place to hang ten while recognizing that both fires and earthquakes are part of living in what Chuck Berry once called the promised land. It's not Brian Wilson's Utopian teenage amusement park.

On "Doesn't Feel Like California" Phillips asks, "Why must the Earth burn so blue? This land we love's a holy tomb. Down and out in the wayward desert today I see a burning light. It's far away but it's within my sight in the hills of the wayward desert today." Definitely lyrics you need to pay attention to.

Phillips is a poet. On the title track, one of the songs that is not about the land of a famous cartoon mouse, Yosemite and the desert, the composer is philosophical and acknowledges that he is getting older. "Yesterday, I gave up the wine of youth, I woke up, and I couldn’t taste it. Still I can see colors, wild and new. If I close my eyes, I feel it. But the wine of youth leaves all men behind, It’s only forward motion here. Sometimes I think if I drink of it all night I will fight back years, The wine of youth, The wine of youth."

Phillips wrote all of the songs, and happily he also offers something that's become less common these days: an album free of explicit lyrics. A sophisticated writer doesn't have to swear to express himself. 

 Phillips and producer Greg Montante played most of the instruments.

The record is an independent release that is currently available on CD, Spotify, and Apple Music.

Zach Phillips' official website.

Comments

  1. glo2:28 PM, September 17, 2020

    This album is one of the most beautiful albums I've heard in years. Some of his songs make you wanna dance and sing while others stop you in your tracks so you can absorb their beauty and depth of wisdom.
    I absolutey love Phillips lyrics and melodies, so rich and full of brillant images. It's nice to know there are musical artists with this level of talent still doing and sharing what they love, so we can enjoy it. See for yourself ;)
    -G.Taylor

    ReplyDelete

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