San Diego-based singer-songwriter Zach Phillips has released his third album, “The Wine of Youth.” An homage to California, it features such tracks as “Hey, San Diego,” “Doesn’t Feel Like California” and “Cascadia,” celebrating the state’s jagged beauty, indomitable spirit and primal intensity. Music Connection magazine recently wrote of the album, “… Phillips has something special … [a] gift for melodic hooks and affecting poetic imagery.”
“The Wine of Youth” is a hybrid of experimental roots- and folk-rock, chamber pop and indie country — classic singer-songwriter-era music in the vein of Wilco, Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst and Jackson Browne. Minus a few nebulous Instagram and Facebook posts, Phillips recorded the album mostly in secret during the summer and early fall of 2019 at producer Gregg Montante’s San Diego home studio after a 13-year hiatus from performing and recording.
“The Wine of Youth” is a distinctly California album, written and recorded after Phillips lived in SoCal for six years. A Chicago transplant, he called the record a tribute to the “old, weird California … the California of the desert, mountains, spiritualists and lovers. The California that taketh and giveth away, over and over and over again.” In other words, the off-the-beaten-path, less-celebrated essence of the state.
And according to Phillips, he planned on delaying the album’s release until the COVID-19 pandemic passed. Then, he began noticing friends’ social media posts. “Everyone seemed starved for new music, books and visual media as they hunkered down,” Phillips said. “I was especially inspired to see more and more people sharing their own videos of playing guitar or piano, people who weren’t necessarily practicing musicians but nonetheless seeking connection, sharing and conversation.
“It got me thinking differently about releasing the album. ‘The Wine of Youth’ has a few threads running through it theme-wise — California, the flow of time, universal cycles. But reflection, particularly on existential matters, might be the album’s heart. And it seemed as if everyone was reflecting on the big things. So, I figured the music could be a little cathartic for everyone.
“Also, being a fundamentally California album, natural disaster — namely earthquakes and wildfires — plays a big part in the songs, especially on tracks like ‘Cascadia’ and ‘Doesn’t Feel Like California.’ So, the music felt fitting for the moment, seeing as we’re dealing with one of the biggest, longest and seemingly most unpredictable natural disasters of our lifetime.”
“The Wine of Youth” is independently released and currently available digitally (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) and on CD.
