I’ve basically been listening to the Dave’s Son album exclusively for about 5 days.
My insides are so in tune with this album for many reasons.

The passion driving the album comes from the main creator/writer/composer/singer of all the songs. His name is Gene Kim. My connection to Gene is through Hong and Jon and Babbs from FunKtion at college. I was introduced to Gene with little fanfare in a well lit bar in San Diego.

Babbs or Hong whispered something like, “Gene is great. You’ll love him.”

I wonder if people say this about me before people introduce their friends to me.

“Gene this is Eric. Eric this is Gene.”

My first take on Gene was that he was warm, extremely personable with a contagious smile and laugh.

I would have said then that we were fairly equal kindred spirits.

When kindred spirits meet, I find that there aren’t many sparks that fly, there’s merely an acknowledgement of each other’s existence and an understanding.

That connection is rare, but I think it happens to me more often than others.
I relish drawing parallels between the parts of people and my own characteristics. It makes me feel good when I think we can relate.

I thought I could relate with Gene, and on many levels I’m sure we do.

But when it comes to this album, and his focus, and intensity, and passion for creating and the creation process, I can’t begin to understand him. I can’t relate. He’s on this totally other level.

Yes we are kindred spirits, but right now my spirit is in awe of his.

The cello ties it’s strings around the inside of my chest and lifts me. It takes me where ever it wants to go. I rise and fall with the melodic long bow strokes.

The ride cymbal resonates and tells you this is going to be a very organic experience.

The drums, keys, and vocals are just so incredibly well produced and balanced that it’s no problem getting lost in the song.
Often, with amateur recordings I can’t get past the sound mix or the balance or just the quality of the recording. That’s one reason why I think with this album Gene has declared to me that he is a professional.

He’s broken through the barrier of the recording process and the album stands on it’s own on the other side. You can just listen. No walls. Just listen.

So I listen and my mouth smiles when each cryptic lyric is replayed in my mind moments after I listen to it. It’s like you know your keys are in your bag, you search for them but you can’t find them, but it’s okay to move forward because you know you’ve got them. You know there’s truth in the lyrics, it’s there even if you don’t understand it, but your heart can move forward knowing truth’s near. Maybe one day you’ll even find it.

“So you wanna be an Airport Ranger”

Gene, what the heck are you talking about? You know what, I don’t care, it’s awesome.

I love the fact that he’s farther along than the normal person, but not intense mainstream.

Like the Chili Peppers before they were huge.
Like John Legend before people knew him.

That’s where Gene is right now.
Just like the honeymoon period of a relationship.
Or the 1st quarter of a potentially historic game.
Or good tickets to a Janet concert.

You wanna be there when magic happens.
That’s where you are when you listen to this album.
You’re where the magic is happening.

www.davesson.com