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Every now and then you are forced to dig. To go deeper than you once knew you could, to pull out emotions you scarcely knew you had. Once there you dabble in the reality of what it means to be alive, then re-surface, more afraid then ever to go to that place, where emotion is raw and truth ever present. Michael Yugo lives in that place. We are all better for it.
What Dreams May Come opens softly with a plucked guitar, setting the scene for what will be a delicate entrance and begins the submerge into a mere glimpse of Yugo's life. By the fourth line ("When was the last time, that I touched your face?"), you will be in love with a voice that carries time, and experience, on its shoulders.
Stand out tracks include I Choose & Could Be, tender declarations of love, and the sacrifices we make to follow it, What I've Learned, a Dylanesque warning to those of us standing on the sidelines of life and Heaven's Hand an adaptation of John 15: 9 -17 urging us to acknowledge that there is peace, truth and most especially love behind what we are seeking.
However, the truest gem on this album is a song worthy of a separate mention. Delaware Place is a song about growing up, friends & family, love & loss, failure, hope and most especially, home. Musically it is sparse, open just enough to let the listener slide into Yugo's life, if only for a brief moment. Once there, you will hope to never leave.
Tom Goss
The Acoustic District - D.C. Acoustic District
Discography
2008: "What Dreams May Come" April, 2008
www.michaelyugo.com
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Bio
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana (South Chicago) Michael's father worked 43 years in the Steel Mills and his Mother was a homemaker. The youngest of five, he grew up listening to all types of music, from Jackson Browne and James Taylor, to ELO, The Police, and Motown. Michael started playing guitar in high school and continued through college into his 20's.
During a deployment in the Marine Corps, he started playing at sea with some friends and the next deployment; he brought along a four-track recorder and a microphone. Together with friends, he started recording his first music and some of what you'll hear in his shows is from that time.
Michael writes about feelings of the heart, its losses and its hopes. He doesn't tell stories; he tells you 'what happened'. If you're family or a close friend, you already may know the back-stories of some of these songs. However, if you haven't met Michael, then he hopes you can find universal themes throughout the songs: that all of us have loved and lost. Michael says, "In a day where everything is 'reality driven' I don't want to forget or lessen the joy and pain I've had in my life. I express the joy and sadness in this life and I never take a single day for granted."
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