Optimisms, by Jonathan Kimball

Optimisms

by Jonathan Kimball

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1.	Box of Empty Thoughts 04:41		buy track
2.	Hung Out to Dry 03:25	lyrics	buy track
Remember the days when I was young Nobody knew when the day was done If ya kept on pushin oh you might get hung Hung out to dry like a wire in the sun Hung out to dry like a wire in the sun I can't help I can't help I gotta push along Only my momma's gonna get me cause my daddy's gone See it can't go right it must be wrong wrong wrong See it sure ain't right it must be wrong wrong wrong Wrong, wrong, wrong You know it's wrong when you're hung out to dry Hung out to dry like a wire in the sun Hung out to dry like a wire in the sun Hung out to dry like a wire in the sun
3.	Out to Find 06:16		buy track
4.	New River Blues 05:30		buy track
5.	Ghosts 06:18		buy track
6.	The Fall 03:37		buy track
7.	Take Me In 02:49		buy track
8.	The Fix 04:55		buy track
9.	We Don't Know 04:15		buy track
10.	Choice to Choose 05:35		buy track
11.	February Sun 08:35		buy track

about

" Folk music has inspired artists from several different spheres of music. Everyone knew that Kurt Cobain was a huge Leadbelly fan. And every musician knows what it means to strip themselves of electricity, and push around an old school feel with just their finger tips and an acoustic guitar. So when Jonathan Kimball dropped his solo debut album Optimisims, with just this state of mind, it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. But for a prog rock, reggae, ska, and punk engineer of obscurity to bring it to the level he did, a bit of surprise was inevitable.

“Commentary’s bullshit anyway, severed at the skin, waiting to decay”. Lyrics to a death metal track? Nope. It’s just one clever bit of dark satire from Optimism’s star track, “Box of Empty Thoughts”. With an Art Garfunkel meets Hank III sort of country feel, Kimball pushes us from ships to flights of stories that tell us what exactly he believes it takes to be alive. He says it best on “Choice to Choose” with high pitched guitar picking and darkness versus light emotional battlefields put right out for the rest of us to digest.

The rebellious spirit is clear throughout Optimisms. But, this is an album that would could be heard with the same measure of delight in a hookah lounge in Antioch California, as it would in a tavern in Box Elder, South Dakota. Jonathan Kimball is an artist with an almost inconceivable range of talent. He seems to know what style will have the most impact at exactly the right moment. The yearning to hear what he is going to do next is a part of his appeal. Not just clever marketing. But, a brilliant way to breathe in the world of wordplay and musical development."

-Train Wreck'd Society, Ron Trembath, October 2011

credits

released August 1, 2009

Jonathan Kimball- vox, guitars, keyboard, dobro
Drew Locke- drums
Ryan Fitzsimmons- mandolin
Norman Baker- bass, vox
Bill Patton- pedal steel guitar
Leah Ingrahm- background vox
Sara Rose- background vox
Izaak Mills- tenor sax, bass clarinet
Bill Jones-trumpet
Pierre Fergusson- engineer, mixing, mastering
Dillon Griffiths- engineer
Owen Meats-engineer
Jenny Schneider- album photos

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about

Jonathan Kimball Seattle, Washington

Jonathan Kimball is an artist with an almost inconceivable range of talent. He seems to know what style will have the most impact at exactly the right moment. The yearning to hear what he is going to do next is a part of his appeal. Not just clever marketing. But, a brilliant way to breathe in the world of wordplay and musical development."

-Train Wreck'd Society, Ron Trembath ... more

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