For Immediate Release:

Los Angeles Singer-Songwriter Drew Aron
Releases Debut EP Familiar Faces
Collected Observations of an Ex-twenty-something Artist
On Elegant Regrets Music

1^st Single, “Running,” out October 2
2^nd Single, “Sugar Maple,”out October 23
Full Familiar Faces EP out on November 13, 2020

Los Angeles, CA – September 17, 2020 – Drew Aron, one time classical guitarist turned folky singer-songwriter, will release his debut EP, Familiar Faces, on Elegant Regrets Music this November 13, 2020. In advance of the EP, Aron will put out two singles along with videos for each. “Running,” the first single, is due out on October 2, and will be followed by “Sugar Maple,” due out October 23. Familiar Faces will also have a video release. For more information. Please visit https://www.drewaron.com.

Aron’s songs, while simple on the surface, reveal many layers upon closer listening and understanding of the artist’s journey through making and releasing this EP. The moving seven-song Familiar Faces has been building over the last five years, when Aron began writing songs again after a long period of focusing on a career as a classical guitarist. Inspired by fellow musicians who were working on telling their own stories and making their own albums, Aron abandoned the classical music path and started to work on telling his own musical story.

While not necessarily a “concept” EP, Familiar Faces is the collected observations of an artist, also in recovery, trying to find his way amid the ups and downs (and laughter mixed with tears) as a creative soul in the City of Angels. The songs began as scribbles that Aron never thought he’d release for public consumption, penned between health food store and food delivery shifts. Aron’s friend KC Maloney (aka Adult Karate) encouraged him to develop his songs more seriously into a solo project, and this nudge inspired Aron to continue writing and honing his day-to-day observations and experiences into wry, folky musical nuggets of truth. A lover of ‘60s and ‘70s folksters like Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and Gene Clark, he hoped his sound would be more tongue-in-cheek, but as you’ll hear, Aron’s music is often heartachingly earnest, something he himself has found surprising. He says of his songs, “It goes in one way and comes out another. That’s what I find I love the most about the process.”

The recording of Familiar Faces was an organic process that took about two years. Aron recorded much of the EP in his bedroom, and used a neighbor’s house as well when roommates were too noisy. This is a true slice of modern life, right down to the recording process, and over time some of the songs were reworked from wherever they started to the mature songwriting voice you hear on the finished EP. “Each song was recorded at a different stage of development,” Aron says, “so I feel that, aside from the lyrical content, each song also tells the story of where I was with my singing voice, how ‘country’ or ‘folk’ I wanted to be. There’s a wonderful conflict in the EP because, at first, I didn’t intend the recordings to all be put out together.” 

Once Familiar Faces had taken shape, Aron worked with his friend Dash Hutton to add some drum tracks, and Adaline (frequent Adult Karate collaborator) to bring in some vocal harmonies. Limited time and resources dictated Familiar Faces’ uncomplicated arrangements, allowing Aron’s folky voice and heartfelt lyrics to shine through. After years playing classical music, the artist finds himself at home in the refreshing simplicity of his new identity as a singer-songwriter. Aron sums Familiar Faces up best: “I don’t see this EP as a singular statement, or some sort of way to establish a new artist identity for myself.  It is, quite literally, a record of me finding my own voice through music.”

ABOUT THE 1^ST SINGLE, “RUNNING”:

“Running” is a self-reflection on the way that we keep doing the same things and moving forward even if it’s unfulfilling, because we’re perhaps more afraid of standing still or being alone. Aron wrote this song after the end of a relationship, when he noticed a pattern in his life of rushing through various changes in an effort to “look for a way around just living with myself.” The track starts off with the lyric “Running away from that old feeling deep inside,” and has a kind of sweet simplicity to it, even as drums and percussion kick in along with twangy electric guitars. Aron made a video for “Running” as well, which can be viewed here.

ABOUT THE 2nd SINGLE, “SUGAR MAPLE”:

One of the first songs completed for Familiar Faces, “Sugar Maple” is another exploration of life’s unpredictable transitions and how we move between our attachment to people, places, and things and our ability to embrace letting go in favor of new directions. The song is full of Beatles-esque chord changes, with a vibe that’s reminiscent of early Elliott Smith. Above the instrumentation, Aron croons plaintively, “It’s ok to be disappointed / you can put that record away / It’s ok to laugh past your troubles / you can let your father’s voice fade away.” The song is about Aron’s family’s giving up their Michigan cottage and ending a chapter of their lives that they expected would go on for much longer. There’s a bittersweet message here about how even when things don’t work out as intended, we find new connections and traditions as we move on.

TRACK LIST AND ARTIST NOTES:

1. “Familiar Faces”—This is the last song I wrote on the EP. It came together really quickly. When I wrote it, I was thinking about the last time I decided to get sober, how I knew the right answers even when I was making all of the wrong decisions. It’s also about regret in general—how seeing yourself and what you’ve done through the eyes of the people you love can help you change and grow. I chose it as the first track and title of the EP because I think it really captures the spirit of every song on this release.

2. “Running”—I wrote “Running” after the ending of a relationship. It wasn’t dramatic, we just decided we weren’t right for each other. It was around that time that I started to see a pattern within my own behavior. I was rushing into things—relationships, jobs, apartments—just to make myself feel better. Change for change’s own sake. “Running” is about doing the same thing over and over again just hoping it’ll be different each time and looking for away around just living with myself.

3. “Sugar Maple”—This is one of the first songs I wrote for the EP. Around that time, my mom and her siblings had just sold the family cottage in Michigan that my grandfather had bought after World War II. I know a lot of us hoped it would be one of those things that stays in the family for a long time, but, as it turned out, it was worth quite a bit and everyone needed the money. It was sad to see that chapter of our lives close, but it allowed everyone to retire. As one door closes, a new one opens. Each verse in the song is about a similar life situation where things don’t work out as planned, but we move on and find new ways of connecting and creating new traditions.

4. “Secret Language”—I have a friend who’s a bit of a savant. He can instantly recall, off the top of his head, the birthday of everyone he knows (and most celebrities). If he learns someone’s birthday, he automatically remembers it forever. He told me his ability stems from a childhood obsession with a book called The Secret Language of Birthdays. The book combines numerology and astrology and has a little profile/horoscope for every single day of the year. As a kid, my friend memorized every single day of the year within that book. I happened to be housesitting for a neighbor and I saw he had the book in his library, so I decided to take a look. I found it so funny that this author thought he had everyone figured out based on the day of the year they were born. I find horoscopes fascinating because oftentimes they are really flattering, but also totally disempowering. They tell you how intuitive or insightful you are, but also absolve you of any responsibility for your own life—the good and the bad. I wrote “Secret Language” as a way to work out my conflicted feelings about taking ultimate responsibility for my own life, but also feeling like sometimes the world has already figured out just how far it’ll let me go.

5. “Tally-Ho”—”Tally-Ho” is about a past relationship. Just before we got together, something very bad happened to her, and I wasn’t as supportive and understanding as I should have been. Everything worked out in the end, but I regret the way I behaved. She handled the entire situation with such strength and grace and I wish I had seen it at the time. After we broke up, we met for coffee and we talked about it. It was very cathartic for both of us. I wrote the song that night as a kind of post-mortem on the entire relationship.

6. “Ten Years”—In 2007, one of my closest childhood friends died of a drug overdose. I saw his family at the funeral, but never reached out to them after he had passed. I was in the middle of my own addiction and couldn’t really face the reality of the situation. Ten years went by, and somewhere in there I got sober. I always carried around some survivor’s guilt about it. Then, a mutual friend of ours reached out to me and his mother to put a little reunion together. We all met on what would’ve been his thirtieth birthday. His little sister was there, who was just a baby when he died. We caught up, shared stories about him—it was incredible. I don’t think I ever really grieved until that night. The reality of his death had never really set in. “Ten Years” is about that night.

7. “Long Lost Head Start”—“Long Lost Head Start” is about the relationship I have with my girlfriend. It’s easy for me to get caught up in worrying about the future and repeating the past, but if I just focus on serving the relationship and learning more about my partner, then everything always works out. I guess the great paradox is that we can only hold on by letting go.

ABOUT DREW ARON:

Drew Aron is a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter who draws inspiration from the country folk songwriters of the 60’s and 70’s.  A classically trained musician, Aron began his musical life by pursuing a career in classical guitar, but life did not go as planned. After a battle with addiction, he entered into recovery and, to make ends meet, picked up a night shift making supermarket sushi at a West LA health food store. Amid putting his life back together while preparing toro hand rolls for weary commuters, Aron began writing, recording, and self-producing his debut EP, Familiar Faces. Aron’s songs draw inspiration from his experience as an ex-twenty-something trying to find his true place among a sea of dreamers in Los Angeles. He hopes to capture listeners’ hearts and ears with lyrics that blend sincere stories of love and hardship with tongue-in-cheek observations about the absurdity of modern living and all its trappings.

ARTIST LINKS:

• Drew Aron Website: https://www.drewaron.com
• Drew Aron on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drewwaron
• Drew Aron on Instagram: @drewwaron
• Drew Aron Twitter: @drewwaron
• Elegant Regrets Music: https://elegantregretsmusic.bandcamp.com
  
  

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For more information, photos, to schedule an interview or request audio files, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.