Dan Zimmerman is a Cosmic Patriot

Dan Zimmerman (no relation) first picked up a guitar in 1957 and has been making music ever since. In the 52 years that have passed by, he's become an art school musical gypsy roaming the world with a guitar in his hand and a song in his heart. Taming his roaming spirit has gotten harder over the years, but he occasionally manages to take time away from wandering the highways and clubs in order to release an album. And that's what he's done with his latest record Cosmic Patriot. 

If you've never heard Dan Zimmerman the first thing you notice about him is his voice. His deep raspy baritone rules over every song as if it were an omnipotent ruler. Sounding like Tom Waits, Nick Cave, or maybe even the Tindersticks on a good day, it sounds as if Zimmerman has drank a few whiskeys in his day and smoked just as many cigarettes and his voice is proof of it. It's those brooding vocal chords that help weave a tapestry of moodiness and downtrodden feelings which permeate each of his songs and in listening to Cosmic Patriot you can't help but picture the smoky, dimly lit environment that Dan Zimmerman inhabits.

Cosmic Patriotis an intense almost apocalyptic record that shows the occasional glimmer of sunshine but spends most of it's time in the shadows. It's brilliance lies in the dark tension that's created with a mixture of minimal, nearly ethereal, instrumentation and Zimmerman's well worn voice. So many of the songs stumble along as if they were on their last leg and you're left wondering if they'll make it through to the next day in one piece. Cosmic Patriot is a rough and somber ride that will haunt you long after the album is over and that's really not a bad thing.
Dan Zimmerman has clearly not written the feel good hit of the spring with Cosmic Patriot, but he has written a downtrodden masterpiece that sounds like it's the most relevant work of art to come out in a long time. Zimmerman sounds as if he's been through the ringer at work, has the blues, and his only friend is a bottle of something. In other words hard times and hope have never sounded so cool.