Friday, January 27, 2012

The Traveling Man



Last time we heard from Luke messimer, the singer songwriter had just broken up his southern California pop rock band Mississippi Man and had begun working on an untitled solo project. Weeks after talking to me, Luke changed directions, the solo project was put on hold and Luke threaded north. "A strong need to get out of all that smog." Luke told me when I emailed him last year about his change. Years before a close friend of his, Josiah Johnson had done the same and had done quite well starting a little band called The Head and The Heart and So Luke did the same, packed up and left for the great Northwest and Seattle's legendary music scene.
Within weeks of arriving Luke began to get sucked up into the musical land scape and quickly began playing a variety of instruments with just as much a variety of Artists. But still Luke wanted to play his songs, his way.
So Months after leaving southern. California Luke returned, as part of the Bryan John Appleby band, the newest singer songwriter to emerge from the great northwest. Upon arriving in LA they met up with the head and the heart, also on tour and spent some
Time together. " they told me that thy
Missed my solo stuff and wished I was still making my own stuff. I took that to heart.".
Luke has yet to return to Seattle since leaving that tour. Being Leon Russell to appleby's Joe Cocker, however great that would have been, was not what Luke had in mind.
For years Luke has used his family's cabin in Northern Arizona as an escape, a place to go and write and rethink things. So as he had done before he settled down in Williams a town his family has been a part of for 90 years and started to do what he loves and what he has wanted to for quite some time, record that solo album.
With a lot arcade fire, M83 and Simon and Garfunkle on the radio. Luke got to work crafting a highly textured sound that floats in and out of arcade fire grandiose and Elliot smith like emotion.
Northern Youth is what Luke is calling this project, and it's his reflections on what he learned in the place he now calls home, Seattle that inspired the name. Reminiscent of the opening scene of Portlandia Luke says "The idea of being an office-job adult doesn't exist there. In Seattle people are doing what they love and being young." Northern youth.
Luke says that no matter where it is he is playing music Seattle will forever be his home. He likes to quote his friends in the head and the heart when dealing with this "your already home where you feel loved."he says. So no matter where it is he travels and no matter who he is playing with Luke messimer knows that he loves the northwest and he loves music. So the traveling man will always have a home.
Northern Youth have a double single out currently that you can find by going to Facebook.com/youthmusicband.
Northen youth plan to release a full ep by around may and a full length after that.

No comments:

Post a Comment