Daemon Chili - Mercy of the Sea (2016)

Adrift in the New England music scene, tossing amongst the dips of rock clubs and swells of concert goers at the mercy of the sea, a sea of Rock ‘n’ Roll, an ever-changing music industry… find Daemon Chili. The keel of this ship, this vessel, this band, is a long run of songs penned by Michael Dion, and ribbed with a choice-crew of musicians connecting each story, rant, and confession with so much more than notes and chords. In northeast Massachussetts, at the junction of interstate 495 and Rt 3, spikes the “Lowell Connector”, a road that carves through the first industrial city of the United States, a city that is a world unto itself. Diverse. Mutli-everything. Lowell connects Dion to his band mates who have been floating alongside each other since the mid 90s, their college days, playing in bands, at clubs and parties. Benson and Breen were founding members of the jazz funk band, The Freelance Bishops, to name one. Dion and Moretti fashioned a pad in the Rock Mahal, temple of grunge/jam band Cotton Mouth, with hailing members Samiagio and Moretti amassing a deep sense of musical intuition together. Time warp twenty-so years, Dion fished these old mates into his new net, crafting the Deamon Chili you hear on this muscular album. This “Lowell Connection” is what makes the lineup in this band so unique. Moretti snaps and cracks guitar strings that weren’t meant for such contortion. Benson reinvents the role of mandolin and pedal steel, biting like a frenzy of sharks. All this to the song of Dion’s hardened mind and epic tales, as that of a scarred old sea merchant. In the belly, Breen and Samiagio fire like coal in a turbine steamship, billowing bass and rhythm in a mile long fog. Anchored in the same Mill City of Lowell, MA, is Wonka Sound. Owner and engineer, Sir Bob Nash has now navigated his fifth recording project with Dion. Their comfort, experience and camaraderie is evident in this polished, powerful production. It heaves up-and-down with purpose and intention, a massive body with mighty freedom. Connections is what this album is about. Connecting the band to the listener to the fan to the audience to the hearts and thoughts and movements of that inner current we all have and feel. Daemon Chili atop connected swells of water, dipping below and rising above those ocean waves of sound, at the mercy of the sea.