Almond is the reason why the decreased cost of recording technology is a good thing. For every 30,000 idiot beat programmers trying to become the next Aphex Twin, you get someone like Kansas native Aaron Martin. Martin’ secret is that he keeps things simple. It’s clear that it’s home recorded. It retains an intimacy in the way four track recordings did in bygone years. It’s a sound that’s virtually impossible in a recording studio, or perhaps it’s not even the sound but a comfortable way of playing, a relaxed whimsical peaceful feel that you you’d expect can only come late at night in your lounge room. Martin a precocious 24 year old, who plays all the instruments, cello, guitar, ukulele, piano, banjo and toys all himself, isn’ trying to do too much here. It’s minimal austere, contemplative work, where nothing is hurried, where there’ a looseness to his compositions, which come together almost in spite of themselves, in strange plodding waves. It’s probably experimental folk music, though the cello offers a stirring yet mournful vibe that we’ve become more than familiar with via movie soundtracks, so in the end where exactly we’ve ended up can be difficult to discern. Creating and building upon off kilter loops with his instruments, his music is an unlikely form of hypnosis that lulls you in with its sparse fragile instrumentation and down home charm. It’s not that he’ doing anything remarkable, with simple lines and a unique highly personal approach to working with sound Aaron Martin’ debut is inventive and charming, offering both a distinctive vision and skewed warmth where you can’ help but like the guy.
Bab Baker Fish
