Oh man if there is anything that resonates with our ears here at Glide, it’s the smooth AM Gold ’70s west coast sounds that feature pristine grooves and crisp studio musicianship. Think of deep cuts from Ambrosia, Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac, Ace, and Todd Rundgren and that is the mission statement of Bloomington, Indiana-based singer-songwriter Damion on his new album Special Interest out July 20th.
After 11 p.m., you stop hearing the regular Eric Clapton-y classic rock on the hits radio station and start hearing more esoteric stuff, one-hit wonders from 1976, or really minor singles from artists I thought I didn’t like because I just hadn’t heard this one weird song before, says Damion about the inspiration behind his recent songs.
Rather than let those offbeat classics fade into the twilight on his late-night drives, Damion returned home and went straight to the Tascam cassette machine, and out comes his version of deep cut yacht rock.
Glide is premiering the near-perfect cut “Company Man,” which features all the checkboxes of a lost ’70s soft rock hit along with blistering guitar solo and helium harmonies that beg for repeat plays.
“I knew I wanted the album to start with a song that bursts out of the gate in a big way, like ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ on Tapestry, or ‘I Saw the Light’ on Something/Anything. I came up with the main riff on an acoustic guitar and just played it for hours with no breaks till the chorus came to me. The whole thing just kind of poured out after that,” says Damion.
