Premiere: Dylan Gilbert – ‘I Was Young’

Dylan GilbertDylan Gilbert has been making records forever, or at least long enough to release a 50-track album dubbed Complete Works, So Far (2005-2010). (In blog years, he played his first show toward the close of the Paleolithic Era. He opened for T. Rex.) It’s a wonder he’s gone largely unnoticed by the blogosphere during that time, especially given his resemblance to another prolific, deeply emotive songwriter, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. Gilbert’s catalog includes melodramatic chamber-rock (“Pangaea”), twangy bedroom folk (“I’ll Plant a Seed”) and straight-ahead indie rock, which is the sound of 2011 single “I Was Young.”

Its searing guitars spill over like an upturned McDonald’s coffee cup, with Gilbert’s stretching tenor matching the heat: “I thought I could know the difference between lust and love,” he bristles, his hopes burning to ash. Gilbert taught himself how to grow old; let’s hope he doesn’t turn prematurely grey before finding his audience.

Dylan Gilbert and the Over Easy Breakfast Machine – “I Was Young”: mp3

(Hear much more Gilbert on his Bandcamp)