Since the release of his debut album Almond in 2006, Aaron has been lauded worldwide for songs of unique warmth, whimsy, feeling and charm – what Australia’s Radio National described as ‘a genre all of its own’, The Age saw as ‘one of the most stunning debuts of the year’, and Foxy Digitalis called ‘rich, beautiful music’.
The newfound recognition Almond created for Aaron has him go on to contribute to various compilations and split releases as well as a collaboration with Dutch electronic sound artist Machinefabriek. Cello Recycling/Cello Drowning circled around Aaron’s improvised playing of his central instrument, cello, manipulated by Machinefabriek for an art installation that has also featured work from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Janek Schaeffer. UK label Type released the result earlier this year.
With River Water, Aaron has taken a compelling step into a deeper territory of contrasting moods and introspection.
River Water marks a decided shift from the work that defined Almond, and at its heart is the idea of transition itself. The sense of wonder in sound and arrangement that marks Aaron’s music is still in place, though River Water is ripe with new sensibilities that take it into an otherworldy realm. The surge and flow of these pieces stem from exotic instrumentation shaped into hypnotic reveries that can take on gradual or sudden shifts. In this strange, curious, beautiful and ever-changing emotional landscape is a look into the eye of the soul.
River Water distils an intensely personal world
with greater resonance and a rare passion.
Beginning his musical life at age 11 switching between guitar and drums, Aaron soon discovered a typical American high school music diet aping Nirvana records wasn’t his thing. The turning point came buying a CD of a cello quartet performing Metallica songs. Hooked on its sound, he started learning to play cello at the relatively late age of 17. His minimal, austere playing style remains a hallmark of his sound, having added a spectrum of instrumentation and a looper pedal to take his pieces into a more kaleidoscopic realm.
On Almond, you’ll hear guitar, lap steel, banjo, piano, ukelele, flute, toys and many more instruments and sound sources alongside the cello. Everything on Almond is played by Aaron, except for one solitary sample. His experimental-collage style builds loops into beguiling song forms of folkish charm and emotional resonance – similar to the uncanny pop sensibility fostered by acts such as Neutral Milk Hotel, The Books and Olivia Tremor Control. In their mesmerising way, they ring in the brain like a partially faded memory that stays with you, gradually revealing itself in full. Almond swells with joy, melancholy and whimsy in a kind of warm chemistry that’s hard to pin down.
The 24-year old Aaron records where he resides, in an apartment on top of a retirement facility for Vietnam war veterans. He continues to teach cello and expand on the chemistry he’s developed in the peculiar and surprising beauty of Almond.
