The So-So Sailors’ “Young Hearts” | Release Preview

by Steven Ashford

The Leavenworth Bar has played host to enough odd, sad, happy, epic stories to stock the dimly lit, narrow-hallway tavern from floor to ceiling. It's as if the old, Midtown Omaha dive bar is coated with a rich and weathered patina, lathered with the photo collages of past and present patrons. In the midst of the first all-out snowstorm of the season, Omaha indie band The So-So Sailors' Chris Machmuller, Brendan Greene-Walsh and Dan Kemp sit huddled around the L-shaped end of the bar, ready to tack another anecdote to the walls, currently lit by Christmas bulbs and flanked with stockings. As the drinks flow and the flakes fall, it becomes clear we're being snowed in.

 

Machmuller, donning a red-plaid scarf, shouts, "be back!" as he leaps from his seat, rushes to the jukebox and analyzes that sucker like he's balls deep in an LSAT prep test book an hour before crunch time. Soon, "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow is playing over the bar's sound system. Seasonally appropriate, the song's timing also fits The So-So Sailors' year-long process creating their debut album, Young Hearts.

 

Having broken studio ground in December 2010, the band will release their six-track EP Friday, Dec. 9 at the Slowdown with guests Sam Knutson, Kevin Pike and John Kotchian. More info on the show here.

 

The band started recording for a little over a week at ARC Studios last winter before moving into the living rooms, bathrooms, bedrooms, dining room and porches of Machmuller's house to polish up the album.

 

The So-So Sailors' pal Ben Brodin engineered and helped arrange the EP, while contributing organ parts.

 

“Ben Brodin is a dude we've met through dudes in town,” Green-Walsh says, as he casually leans back into his tall barstool, sipping on a Budweiser long neck. “He's a great guy, great musician, a mystery, an 'enigma!'”

 

 So Broken Hearted by The So-So Sailors

 

Affectionately known as "the Meadows," Machmuller's Aksarben basement dwelling translucently transforms into the So-So Sailors' crafty musical workshop, where both talent and inspiration roll rampantly across the floor like miscellaneous loose items shifting aboard their so-so ship on dicey waters.

 

“We've got about four bottles of Jameson rolling around at all times, plus about 150 cans,” says the band's keyboard-playing frontman and songwriter.

 

Although Young Hearts is merely a six-song EP, it clocks in at more than 32 minutes, the duration of some full-lengths.

While Machmuller (Ladyfinger) admits to no direct conceptual theme to the music, Young Hearts is the perfect soundtrack to cope one through this dark, cold winter. The first track, "So Broken Hearted," begins with Machmuller delicately touching the keys and softly speaking the first words, "lost out on love, or so it seems / a useless thing is the pain you hold onto." From there, the song — with full band — takes off, before breaking down again about 20 seconds later and becoming a feel-good, uplifting track that simply lets one know to "come around and bother me at the bar."

The EP's title track feels like a joyride tracking the weekend bender that starts with snide remarks and a 'fuck you' attitude as booze overpowers brain, followed by the shitty feeling of a vulnerable, brittle branch the next morning. Machmuller sings, "Your brave mouth and firey tongue will only get you some things / You cried out when morning came, unless a crime would have been OK / But you sank your teeth into the bone." But don't fret. There's reassurance with the jazzy, harmonious build-up that tops out with the exclaimation, "The young hearts should make those mistakes."

 

One-thousand initial copies of the Young Hearts CD will be produced, but the band is looking beyond the horizon without much hesitation. The band recorded 12 songs during the Young Heart sessions, and the additional tracks certainly won't be left out to sea.

 

“Those other songs we want to revisit and we're going to hopefully get into the studio at the first quarter of this upcoming year and look towards releasing an LP sometime next summer, or at the latest, fall,” Machmuller says.

 

Given the large time span between songs that were written, it makes sense that a few newer tracks were just not mature enough to float the bill on the new EP.

 

“Some songs,” Machmuller says, “ held a sense of intimidation that was present, so we decided to address them later. Basically, we had a pool of songs to choose from and felt that we should just pick the ones that were the strongest for the EP.”

 

After recording, producing, engineering and solidifying a concrete setlist for the new EP, The So-So Sailors started focusing on their release show. In the past week, they've been wood chipping songs for their set on Friday and getting back in tune with older tracks to make sure those are still up to par.

 

To ensure a memorable experience for Friday's crowd, the band plans to incorporate new dynamics.

 

“We've got an extended lineup for this show,” Machmuller says as he takes the final sip of his Bulleit Bourbon Whiskey. “We added a trumpet and a trombone player. There should be some other good surprises as well. Also, the $10 admission will get you attendance and a copy of the EP."

 

Steven Ashford is a Hear Nebraska editorial intern. He is hoping that releases such as this come along the way to jazz up his winter even more. Contact him at stevena@hearnebraska.org.