Album Notes

The title of Ian McGlynn's debut studio album says it all - Tomorrow's Taken. His is the sound of an emerging singer/songwriter staking some claim in the future; but with an eye and ear alertly focused on music's rich past. Ian swallows whole albums by his favorite bands of yesteryear, digests them, and then lets them beam from his fingertips during furtive writing sessions at the piano. But this time, with the help of producer Shane Tutmarc (of Seattle's Dolour), he's fashioned them into utterly unique and forward-looking works of art, described by some as what it might sound like if Radiohead made an album of nostalgic AM radio pop, or a synth-happy Beatles.

It's his marriage of influences from the last four decades that distinguishes Ian's songs; from The Beach Boys to 70's Chicago to (Australia's) The Church to Radiohead. They're all there, but then again they're not. That's because Ian's songs have such a singular feel. The effect his influences have had on his music is probably at least partly attributable to his moonlighting at piano bars, where he became renown as much for his 45-minute Beatles medley as he was for playing the likes of The Left Banke or The Zombies back to back with INXS or Tom Waits.

Ian's chameleonesque ability to appeal to aging cigar smokers at stuffy piano bars as well as to college-aged indie music snobs in dark Manhattan venues is the perfect evidence of his unique talent.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ian's first audience was comprised, of course, of Mom and Dad. But they weren't just his first audience, they were also his first teachers. His mother, a classically trained pianist, and his father, a rock-n-roll drummer (who has opened up for Jethro Tull and Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention), have passed on both their passion and their proficiency. Ian started playing the piano at three and wrote his first song, "That's The Way", at age 12.

While you would think that career highlights such as an appearance on TV's Destination Stardom or playing to a packed house at NYC's The Bitter End would rank as defining moments, Ian has insisted in interviews that performing a few Beach Boys covers with Ken Stringfellow (of The Posies) at a private party and recording Tomorrow's Taken in an apartment-turned-studio with Tutmarc rank much higher.

Ian's regard for the more intimate moments that music offers has no doubt manifested itself in the songs that he writes. Listening to a live set from Ian is like entering a strange new world. Each songs a small country, each minor chord some hidden lake. Ian McGlynn draws his audience in, whether or not they're carrying their passports.