Posted on: January 30, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

Sounds Familyre is incredibly honored to introduce you to Dan Zimmerman and announce the release of his new album, Cosmic Patriot. Upon hearing Dan Zimmerman’s music, his voice will be your first impression. A rich, distinctive, roasted baritone somewhere in between Lee Hazelwood and Tom Waits, his voice is all character, with nothing pretended or imposed. Dan’s been singing since he picked up the guitar in 1957, and his resonance is pure experience. A Methodist preacher’s kid turned ‘60s art-school van-gypsy, married by a swami, turned Northwestern mountain-man singing at lunch-hour for fellow workers at a tree-packing plant…what an arc! And that’s just the groundwork.

Six years in the making, Cosmic Patriot is a timeless pop balancing act between a stormy middle-earth apocalypse and something effortless, intimate, and unhurried. The writing, the band, the recording – there’s complexity, darkness, and intensity, yet it’s all so snug and woven and of-a-piece. It’s amazing how disarming a song that starts off with the battle cry, “Prepare for war, total war…” ends up being. Just as the listener finishes taking in the meaning of that chilling lyric, the song glides into a rousing homefires singalong. Therein is the push-me-pull-me quality that exists throughout. Songs like “Secret Name,” “Steady Plodder,” and “Trailing Clouds Of Glory” are spirituals. “The Thing Itself” is a beautifully slow, existential tweed-amp explosion, pulling good and hard on the band’s hidden Philly/South Jersey psych roots. Then, right at the core of the record is “Silence Is A Golden Mountain,” clattering and glissing into wood glue.

Zimmerman has moved through life with a deeply purposeful wanderlust which permeates every note of his music. There’s a spirit to it, a soul to it, a body to it; there’s always something steadily in motion and growing in this picture. Cosmic Patriot captures the band and the man perfectly—everything fits. The boots are well-worn and comfortable; the tremolo pulses right when you need it, and the string section rises to answer its own questions. This could have been a classic Leonard Cohen session. Think about when you first found all those Scott Walker records, all those R. Stevie Moore tapes. There’s a personality completely preserved in its own space, an old friend you knew nothing about. Dig in….

Listen/download Dan Zimmerman’s “Everyday In My Heart” here: http://www.box.net/shared/xu0o69qyeo.

Participating Musicians:
Dan Zimmerman: acoustic guitar and vocals
Elin Smith: supporting vocals
Joshua Stamper: double bass and string arrangements
Emil Nikolaisen (Serena-Maneesh): electric guitar
Tony Jones: electric guitar
Jie Jin: violoncello
Christiaan Palladino: keyboard
Ambrose Liu: accordion
Jason Kourkounis (Bardo Pond): drums
Josiah Wolf (Why?): drums
Daniel Smith (Danielson): electric bass, claps, percussion, supporting vocals, producer

Tracklist:
1. Cosmic Patriot
2. Lost My Technique
3. Everyday In My Heart
4. The Stain Remains
5. Symbols In This World
6. Twilight Romance
7. Secret Name
8. Silence Is A Golden Mountain
9. The Thing Itself
10. Lonely Way
11. Midnight For Hours
12. Steady Plodder
13. Trailing Clouds of Glory

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