Albert Kass
Young Old Man
Announcing the release of debut record, Young Old Man. The new album for indie
alternative/folk artist Albert Kass was produced in his hometown of Los Angeles by Grammy
nominated producer Billy Mohler.
Kass has returned to writing and performing after two careers and two decades: “Call me a late
bloomer. All the perceptions were there. But I didn’t feel I was called to music until now.”
The album is a coming-of-age tale—a culmination of years of original songwriting and a
coalescing of sound, style and aesthetic. The young old man: broken-in yet modern, vintage
vibes that echo of tomorrow. Raw with an edge but softened with bittersweet nostalgia, like the
worn leather of a favorite jacket.
Tightly edited with 10 songs, Young Old Man remembers the purity and clarity of youth, and
how the joys and miseries of growing up take on energies of angst, abstraction, and the
sarcasm of adulthood. “I wanted to feel that in song,” he says.
The sound production is minimal, to enhance intimacy and his easy, deep melodies.
“Stripped down is what my life sounds like now. Like ‘Shallow Sea,’ putting my soul,
inside-out, on display.” Kass utilizes only voice, acoustic guitar, upright bass—featuring
soulful bowing on tracks like ‘The Void’ and ‘Awake’—and simple percussion. The result
is less extreme, with easy, haunting hooks, arpeggios, as well as a subtly visceral quality,
like on ‘Hurricane.’
His next project features a combination of intensely personal ballads like ‘Our Place’ and
‘The Fair,’ twangy protest songs like ‘The Living Man,’ and an acoustic cover of
Grizzly Bear’s ‘Two Weeks.’