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David Aaron:
12:00 Scenery
Curtain opensScene 1 begins as we wake in our New York loft apartment to wipe our eyes and tie on our old ratty Converse. Somewhere in the background children laugh, cars buzz by, and an alarm clock cries. A reluctant sun tries to shine through our windows casting noon shadows on an empty bed. Im finding myself a bit dreary. Thats where this album seems to start. It opens with a well constructed, atmospheric sound collage of noise, static, piano and bass, ringing alarms, childrens laughter, crowd chatter, cars, trains, and any other form of city white noise. The whole piece washes over the listener pulling him or her into the musicians world, swirling and squealing to a halt in an abrupt ringing alarm clock stop. The album launches from there, putting us inside the artists head as he wakes from his sleep to the new day surrounding him. The only problem is that this day is like every other, a bit depressing. Mood set. This becomes more of an artsy, theatrical journey through one New York musicians monotonous everyday life. The release year (2003) of this album finds David Aaron as a student of music in New York, focusing primarily on jazz. Having an obvious interest in and ear for production and experimentation, he constructs swelling, meandering concoctions of grunge-laden, slightly angsty tales. Crooning in a style reminiscent of the late Layne Staley-trademarked weary moan, he backs himself with music set to the tempo of a low-battery, dying walkman (also reminiscent of some Alice in Chains). Not that this is a bad thing; its slow and atmospheric. The vocals have great hooky choruses that keep the songs moving forward. I think he might be a little behind the times in some parts; he would have been a wonderful candidate for a Screaming Trees headlined tour opener back in 92 or 93. Most of the songs are ballad style inner reflections set to a fuzzed out guitar tone towering over a more moody acoustic driven rhythm. Acoustic guitar, bass, and piano create a good undercurrent for the entire album. He has a very beautiful, impressive talent for the piano; I dig those pieces a bit more. The last track, like the first, is an instrumental construction, a goodnight piece. Its a wonderful, piano-rich, brooding piece with orchestrated strings haunting overtop. Some standout tracks (which can be downloaded at his site) are You and Me, When You Get Home (which has gorgeous female backing vocals, sort of alt-countryish), Make You Happy (piano ballad) and the closer 12:01. Its a good album and the only complaint I can find is that the lyrics are a bit amateur at times, but hes on his way to carving out some good music.
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