Northern Youth

It’s been a long trip for Luke Messimer, and maybe a strange one too, but certainly circular. Messimer was one of two frontmen in the Orange County-bred quintet Mississippi Man, which released a very promising album in mid-2010 and then called it quits by the end of that year. After the breakup, he lived in Seattle and played as a sideman, and then spent some time in a cabin in the woods of northern Arizona. There, he worked up the songs that would become his debut as Northern Youth before returning to southern California. Messimer is still a folkie at heart, and his songs suggest he might have a big heart at that, and on the debut album “Home” he’s expanded his arsenal of instrumentation. “I’ve been running / for a long time,” Messimer sings in the homecoming paean “Los Angeles,” a sweet, stripped-down track. Fans of Delta Spirit and Dr. Dog might take a shine to the single “She’s in the Wild,” which finds Messimer in his characteristic high register, racing to keep up with a driving rhythm. - Buzzbands LA

There’s something about an album written and recorded in self-imposed isolation in the woods that just makes it sound better. Luke Messimer, performing under the moniker Northern Youth, made Home in a cabin in northern Arizona after breaking up with his LA band and spending a short time in Seattle.

These eight well-crafted folk-pop songs come together for a solid solo debut. Not every song is a hit, but there are several standouts that make the album absolutely worth listening to. Opener “Broken Minds” and “Alive” are a couple of the catchier tracks, but Home really reaches its pinnacle in the two-song sequence of “Los Angeles” and “Islands.” “Los Angeles” is a welcome addition to the abundance of songs paying homage to the City of Angels, with its echoing backup vocals and buildup to the repeated question, “Where did my soul go when my body died?” On “Islands,” Messimer utilizes synth and xylophone to create subtle, mesmerizing emotion.

Messimer is back in LA now with a backing band of 5 musicians and plans for a spring west coast tour. Download Home for free on the Northern Youth Bandcamp page and keep an eye out for a 4-song EP at the end of the year. - WGTB

It’s been a little over a year since L.A.-native Luke Messimer left Seattle for a small spot in Arizona. It was the beginning of a quest, to take a step back from the life he’d known and delve into self-exploration and his new music project, Northern Youth. Since, Messimer has returned to Los Angeles and finished work on his first full-length—appropriately titled, Home.

The record is built on catchy, extremely danceable pop music. It features the song “Broken Minds” as its first single, released in August. The track is a rhythmically driven swell of guitar, horn-like keyboard synths, and voices that sing of Luke’s abrupt loss of his sense of reality. Interestingly, though, the music consistently imbues a very upbeat sensibility. The following track, the beautifully constructed “Alive”, is a mellow one-two beat percussed tune with a vocal melody rolling with a picking guitar.

The album elevates it’s energy with the fast-paced “She’s In The Wild” and the anthem “Los Angeles”, two of the best songs I’ve heard come out of any artist this year. Reminiscent of something you might hear off Sam’s Town by The Killers, it’s the acceleration and vocal phrasing in “She’s In The Wild” that makes you welcome the song in for a long stereo residency.

“Los Angeles” speaks of the pilgrimage Northern Youth found himself on, landing home once again in Southern California. He uses a hymn-like proclamation, singing over a chorus of mandolin and drums.

Bending the record’s momentum toward more of a dreamy, lyrically-focused direction are the album’s three remaining songs, my favorite of which is “Looking for a man”. In it, Luke sings of his personal conflict with the notion of blind faith, “Mother can’t you see their lies. Oh father, look me in the eyes.”

Without a doubt, it is the thoughtfulness that Northern Youth exhibits on Home that makes it. The album easily earns a “R-A-W-K” on the “R-A-W-K-D” scale. Talk of Luke Messimer’s return to Seattle (with a full backing band) rumors for an early 2013 return, but until then you can check out Home for free at www.northernyouthmusic.bandcamp.com.

–Dominic Cortese, music writer, The Monarch Review - The Monarch Review