[Cover photo credit to Patrick Fore]
Jeff Larson will be releasing his first solo full-length album in a decade, Adobe Home, on April 19th, 2024, via Nashville-based label Melody Place. It follows his 2023 six-song tribute EP, It’ll Never Happen Again, dedicated to the late singer/songwriter Tim Hardin.
The first song and video from Adobe Home will be “Something of a Dream” arriving this week on March 8th, 2024. It features Gerry Beckley of America, who co-Produced the album with Larson, and appears on bass, electric lead guitar, and organ.
We’re delighted to premier the song and lyric video here on Wildfire Music + News today.
“Something of a Dream” has a warm, contemplative feel, but also hints at life’s wider problems and the ways in which they impact relationships. Sometimes the difference between making and maintaining a connection with someone else can feel as tenuous but as compelling as a “dream”. Larson plays with the idea of the fragility but also the inspirational qualities of a dream in the song in a way that makes the lyrics dynamic and changeable. Gradually he paints a picture of a disconnect between two people and an attempt to traverse those distances when the two parties might be in different places emotionally. However, the rekindled faith in a dream of the future seems to carry the day.
Sonically, the song is full of warm textures that do create a dream-like or early morning feeling, where the impact of our internal state still dominates the external world. There’s a rising, aspirational feeling to the meditative track, almost encouraging music to reach across boundaries and convey the hopefulness that the speaker seems to feel. There’s plenty of roominess and air to the production quality on the track, suggesting that it would probably sound very similar and similarly hypnotic live. The song preserves a feeling simplicity in its sound without taking a bare-bones approach.
Coming from an album that takes inspiration from California, it’s not surprising that the lyric video for “Something of a Dream” does fit very well with the colors and moods of Adobe Home. While lyric videos vary widely, the animated quality of this one does add considerably to the poetic feeling and imagery of the track, taking us into golden hour colors, terra cotta interiors, and out onto the desert highway, too. It’s a definite bonus to the experience of the song to see this flowing and inviting video alongside it.
Jeff Larson shares about the song:
Of course, I’m partial to all the songs on the album, but it’s a mark of good songcraft to have one that goes from major to minor in its feel with a good hook to carry it on. I think “Something of a Dream” fits that.
I love jangly pop-folk-rock music and bands like REM (“The One I Love”) and Real Estate to The Byrds, Beatles, Moody Blues, etc. It’s fun for me since the riff I play at the top of the chorus is something I’ve had around since high school. Things like riffs and melodies seem to hang around until they’re exercised. The pandemic was a bit of a reset of innocence when it came to songwriting and recording so a lot of things came out for me. I was just approaching things for the song and the feel. I also hadn’t written on electric guitar in a while, and this was one of several songs that originated from that so it’s fresh to me.
The song “Something of a Dream” was written by Jeff Larson, and features Larson on lead vocals, backing vocals, acoustic, and electric guitars. He’s joined by Gerry Beckley on bass, electric lead guitar, and organ and Brian Young on drums and percussion.
Jeff Larson is a veteran singer-songwriter from the San Francisco Bay area now living in Southern California. For the California-themed album Adobe Home, Larson recorded 13 new songs that he co-produced with Gerry Beckley of America. Larson wrote eight of the tunes, as well as two with legendary songwriter Jack Tempchin (the Eagles’ “Peaceful Easy Feeling”), one with Beckley, and one with Robert Lamm of Chicago.
The album’s sound ranges from Americana, to Folk-Rock, and Power Pop, and includes some Jazz elements. It was mastered by four-time Grammy Award winner Michael Romanowski.
Larson adds about Adobe Home:
This project started in 2020 when I just moved to the San Diego area. Exploring and learning about my new surroundings influenced several songs, starting with ‘Adobe Home,’ ‘This Summer,’ and ‘Better Part of the Morning.’ I’ve continued my ongoing collaboration with co-producer and friend, Gerry Beckley. We help each other as sounding boards on the production side, we co-wrote one song, and he plays bass and keyboards throughout the album. I also became friends with Jack Tempchin, who is a neighbor. Along with producing a record for Jack, we co-wrote a couple of songs for this album. I think it captures the time it was written and the emotions I went through.
