Soundpark Act of the Month: AARØN

Jimi Hendrix, Prince and hip-hop, deep beats and lots of emotion. Musician and guitarist AARØN makes his rush of emotions heard with his new EP “Feuer” and is June’s Soundpark act.

By Andreas Gestetner-Brügger

For some, he appeared out of nowhere: the pseudonym Lorenz Fack Aaron. In 2022, with his debut single “Manisch”, he demonstrated how one can combine the love of guitar solos with contemporary electronic R'n'B.

Producer Wandl was responsible for the relaxing, washed-out beats and soundscapes. An exciting mix that was impressively presented live at Popfest 2023.

From Jimi Hendrix to hip-hop to singing

The extended guitar solo at the end of the number is striking. This shows which musical region Lorenz originally belonged to.

Aaron: “I started out sitting at home and trying to imitate Jimi Hendrix and every other great guitar player. Then I did a lot of hip-hop with a producer, and mostly played guitar. Then I kept having different rock bands, but it all fell apart. I also never wanted to Singing, but I never found anyone singing the way I imagined.”

So he had to take the microphone himself. As you can hear in “Manisch,” Aaron feels comfortable in the higher vocal ranges and likes to breathe his soulful timbre on deeper beats. Even then, the script was about an manic drunkenness of falling in love.

With the new EP “Feuer” we are now getting to know new sides of AARØN. The first single “Magie” cleverly uses a sample of classic soul music”I will be around“And he lets his love of Prince's guitar shine. The vocals are no longer soul-laden, but more reminiscent of neo-Austrian indie pop à la Pepeza. It's a multi-layered song, with grainy details and an excitingly interwoven soundscape.”

This time Aaron recorded and produced mostly on his own using a mixer, a drum machine, his guitar, and his voice. With the extremely reduced setup, Lorenz also allowed himself to work spontaneously, intuitively and experimentally. He captures the magic of the moment, because he loves it when the music “just happens,” the ideas find their way “through you” to the tape recorder.

The song itself is about a person who fights all night, sleeps all day, and searches for magic in others. In return, you accept to take the devil's hand when you go to the dance floor. Because even if life doesn't go the way you want, you can surrender to the moment.

Music in a rush of emotions

As with Manish, emotions are at the forefront with Arun. Not only does the EP title “Feuer” reflect the mood of the musician, but the song titles “Brenne” and “Kerosin” also show what AARØN’s inner world looked like at the time of production.

Aaron: “When I started collecting demos, I had a special folder for them on the computer and I called it 'Everything's Burning'. At that time, I had a feeling that something was burning inside me. But also in general – I had a feeling that everything was collapsing. The title of the EP “Everything Is Burning” was very theatrical and I had a group of friends who assigned an element to everyone while the others were water and dirt, they said to me, “You’re fire.”

AARØN manages to convey this feeling in a song that is less than two minutes long.”BurnTo get to this point. What is recorded at home has a good touch of humor and a blueprint that plays quickly, becoming more like rock music with a big twist while performing live with a band. That's when you realize what's inside this seemingly simple song. AARØN showed us this impressively in the FM4 session.

Aaron likes to let his emotions out. You can hear that in his music with every song. A number like “Kerosin” also amounts to a rush. The faded vocals, dark bass line, simple drum loop, and small guitar embellishments sound almost hypnotic.

A world of sound in which you can completely lose yourself. You never know what will happen in the next moment. It is a guitar line that suddenly appears out of nowhere to be sped up and modified and then disappears again in the high frequencies.

After the EP show, AARØN will be first on stage with another group. Because the musician will play guitar on Pepeza's summer tour. Until his own band returns to the stage, we can get drunk on the EP “Feuer.”