Five by Aubrey Van Gelded
I throw around the term “Outsider Music”, and it may seem like I’m minimising the effect of the music I am regarding but I’m actually celebrating its creativity, its boldness to do what it wants. Be what it was born to be. Can you imagine Sparklehorse with rules? Nah fuck that.
So here we are with Five by Aubrey Van Gelded and I don’t say this lightly, I Love this. Each time I listen I have a favourite song.
From the lead guitar melody that comes in on bar 8 of, “Die Sad About It” or the mantra-like lyric of “So Happy Here” to Devon Jurassic (aka The Bish of Bantercurry:)’s vocal on “Billets-Doux”.
The songs show a deep soul and pure love for what they are doing. The recordings are warm, the bass and acoustic guitars sit very well together, which allows the vocals to sit well in the mix.
All the songs on Five have breath; they live and breathe. There are earworms in these sonics that have burrowed their way into my brain and refuse to let go.
Sometimes music has a way of landing in front of us and making a really good first impression, sometimes when you get further in it falls apart, sometimes though it has more power and substance. This is one of those occasions.
Totally recommended.
You can find Aubrey Van Gelded on Bluesky here: @neonpherepapha.bsky.social
If the description of this album on Bandcamp is to be believed (and I have no reason not to), “Five” by Aubrey Van Gelded is a collection of songs that would not have fit anywhere else. And indeed, the individual tracks are very different from each other. Overall I’d say, that these songs fit into the Post Punk category, with elements of Funk, Folk and Grunge mixed in.
Four of them have lyrics that use repetition to enhance their impact, while the fifth one (the one not written by Aubrey) is more flowing and poetic. I thought the song order here is pretty interesting, and I’m probably reading too much into it, as this poetic song “Billets-Doux” is right in the middle of the album with the other songs revolving around it.
Production wise, this is a homemade DIY production all around. The vocals are slightly muffled (again, excluding “Billets-Doux”), while the instruments are very clear. Instead of feeling simple or even cheap, however, I thought that this production has a certain charm to it, like getting a well-worn cassette from a friend. I think it feels and sounds warm in the best of ways. Overall, I enjoyed this album. There is a rebellious fun in it that just feels charming and honest, while being pretty catchy for good measure. I’d definitively recommend giving this a spin or two.
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