'Everybody complains about how nobodys doing this kind of thing anymore. People now proudly pull their favorite old CDs out of their hiding places, but creating these kinds of songs is a lost art. It's as if the word melody has almost lost its meaning. Of course every band bio says their music is melodic, and I wonder if people even know what they mean by that.'

Everett Young has completely reinvented himself.

This Atlanta producer has just completed The Ground, an album of huge-production moody pop songs that marry powerful, ultra-singable melodies with haunting orchestral productions, written, produced and conducted by Young in his Stone Mountain, GA studio.

The Ground is a total departure from Youngs previous, more jazz-influenced work as a solo artist. The voice is recognizable, but much more mature. The songs and style are so different that its clear Young has been in his transformative cocoon for quite some time.

An expressive performer, and a dynamo of a singer with a chameleon voice, Young is glad to be back on stage with his new sound. The Ground is the result of Youngs last 4 years as a producer.

Young considers this album to be his masterpiece, a long time coming but worth the wait. 'In the studio, I so often find myself trying to get artists to go beyond whats current and get to the guts of their own sound,' says Young. 'Its great to make the nod to whats hip, but whats unique about an artist is way more interesting. Seeing other artists wrestle with that truth has forced me to examine my own sins, and the truth is, what you get connects with more people and in a deeper way'.

And Youngs true love, the music that youll hear if you visit him at home, has always been serious, intellectual pop songs. 'I love Simon and Garfunkel. I love the melodic stuff from the eighties. I love Howard Jones and Tears for Fears. Paul McCartneys melodies, even post-Beatles, which you can tell were inspired by classical music.'

In the last four years Young has produced and engineered albums for several artists, including Atlanta band The Sightseers and Tallahassees Satori Bomb. Young also produced a beautiful, Nick Drake-esque album by the late Laura Pooley. A song Young co-wrote with Pooley appears on The Ground. Since completing The Ground, Young has written a dramatic and melancholy string arrangement, calling to mind the unmistakably international sound of the 1960s James Bond soundtracks of John Barry, for a song on the forthcoming project by Steven Satterfield, formerly of Atlantas indie-pop band Seely.

Review from ireallylovemusic.com

This is a very impressive set of classic radio pop songs.

First, though, the most amazing aspect is the sheer quality of the package, the whole thing has the look and feel of a major label production, even the sleevenotes!

As for the music?

Very listenable, well-produced, pop music.

...Strong hooks [and] memorable melodies [are] something Everett has either a natural ability to create, or he has studied the art to a high degree...

The songs are sonically balanced with real instruments of strumming guitars, basslines, piano, etc with most tracks having subtle orchestrations added for more depth.

There are some nice concessions to modern studio sheen - but this never detracts from the song. Experiments are not Everett's bag of tricks -- instead its obvious that the song/melody/hooks are all, and there are many across these 11 tracks.

Highlights include the uptempo "Rags to Riches", the acoustic "If We Moved to New York" - a personal highlight - with gorgeous vive and lovingly styled acoustic baseline, and best of all - the 80's new wave pop style rip-off "Every Time I look at You" which is great fun - and deserves mass exposure.

The Ground should be heard and played by all those who crave for good old fashioned pop music as opposed to the music factory fodder that gets created/promoted/playlist saturated these days, something which Everett himself likes to have a few digs at in a couple of lyrics.

The disc has been a very pleasant experience with some tracks really embedded within the psyche after 3 plays.