Aaron Thompson
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Aaron Thompson

New York City, New York, United States | INDIE

New York City, New York, United States | INDIE
Band Americana Singer/Songwriter

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"Listening Party: Aaron Thompson"

By the time I actually met Aaron Thompson he had played some of his torchier songs at one of our Family Hemerlein Variety Shows and we've nodded acknowledgments at each other a bunch at dinner and other parties. You know how these things go. But then - on a particularly snowy, dreary Thursday evening in December we, both refugees from the Architecture profession, as I soon found out, were together guests (he of the musical variety and actual value, me of the dog-and-pony show nature) at a talk show Me, You, Everybody which gets taped on Thursdays at Looking Glass lounge.Here, after his planned & programmed 2 songs, both of which sounded like the perfect sonic blanket to wrap yourself in on a wintry evening (all raspy vocals and spare percussion leading you gently but firmly across iced over, fantastical landscapes) he stayed and played a full show, just because, as a present to the attendees who braved the night and the snow. (you can listen to the episode here.).Song after heartfelt song, you could sense how much he just loved playing his music and that well, that sort of touched my cold, jaded, website-running heart - and, along with everyone else present, I just gave in. And I think you should too. The music is the kind of spare "nothing to hide behind" songwriting which only clever musicians can do with some measure of success - no spare change here to go around, just good, solid foundations and fair dose of soul. Oh yeah, and he's a pretty nice guy too.This weekend, after a busy couple of months of smaller shows, Aaron is playing the opening of the LUCE Unplugged series @ The American Art Museum this Sunday at 1:30pm. You should go, after brunch and before your nap, trust us. To prepare you for it, Aaron kindly walked us through 3 songs from hims Self-Titled Debut (out now) + and a brand new video for "A record, A wheel" which sees him facing off with a train somewhere in the blustery woods of Philadelphia. The train doesn't stand a chance.

Want more:Find Aaron online: http://www.myspace.com/aaronthompsonsong + get his record heredigitally or via SOCKETS & catch him live next this Sunday @ Smithsonian American Art Museum at 1:30pm as the first in the LUCE Unplugged - Brightest Young Things


"Out Today: Aaron Thompson's Vessel EP"

It looks like local troubadour Aaron Thompson has picked up and moved to New York City, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't cop his new EP. Thompson did, after all, live until recently in the District, releasing music through stalwart label Sockets.

He's also staffed the Vessel EP, which is out today, with some D.C. personnel, including percussionist Nathan Jurgenson (formerly of Phonic Riot, currently of really smart tweets about Internet culture) and Janel Leppin (of new-music duo Janel & Anthony). I've appreciated his songs in the past for their blend of old folk-music tropes and laptop-y atmosphere, but this set gets its power from a more orchestral, organic kind of ambience.


From the songs and from a recent promo video, it's clear Thompson has wanderlust on his mind. These songs follow him from foreign shores ("took the last boat to America, its ports a one way line," he sings in "In a Velvet City") to domestic coastlines. In "The Pines," the album's most powerful and least characteristic song, he waxes dystopic about (I think) a Gulf Coast oil spill, invoking the devil and communing with a terror-strewn natural world as his vocals are subsumed by a massive, apocalyptic string motif. It's really something. - Washington City Paper


"Deli NYC Front Page - From Washington DC to NYC: Aaron Thompson"

Streaming below is the song 'The Pines' from Aaron Thompson's latest release, "Vessel EP". More raw and ambitious than his eponymous debut album, "Vessel EP" was recorded in five days this past summer at the Empress of Sound Studio in Washington, DC (where he was based). Thompson has recently moved to Brooklyn and will be performing in at Pianos on February 10, 2012. - The Deli NYC


"Aaron Thompson’s “Vals” Appears in CNN Drug Abuse Story"

Back in September we interviewed D.C.-based singer/songwriter Aaron Thompson about his sleepy laptop jam “Vals.” Thompson explained that the lyrics referred to imaginary landscape–a pastoral nowhere that he dreamed up while tinkering around with some chilly keyboard sounds. “I follow the telephone wires in the street lights and the sleeping houses,” he sings.

Perhaps the place he’s describing is really Fort Lauderdale. The opening tones of “Vals” recently popped up in this CNN story about Florida’s pain killer clinics, building up the mood right before the reporter springs some particularly gnarly track mark footage. - Washington City Paper


"New Music: Aaron Thompson’s Vals/Bethany Lane/Icarus"

This won’t seem like high praise to some of you, but the latest EP from Sockets Records’ Aaron Thompson gives me serious flashbacks of Ryan Adams—not Ryan Adams the raffish alt-country singer, or Ryan Adams the ill-conceived retro rocker. I’m thinking of the one who sang Love Is Hell, an underappreciated paean to heartbreak and mopey ‘80 guitar pop. Now, granted, Thompson’s lyrics won’t make you cringe, and he’s got some serious instrumental and atmospheric chops. But he’s found that same key of gentle misery.

You can pay what you want for the EP on Thompson’s Bandcamp page, or download it in a few weeks from the iTunes store, or wait until Thompson drops an album later this year (it’ll feature all three of the EP’s tracks). Or stream it after the jump: - Washington City Paper


Discography

Vessel EP (released December 2011 by Twilight Parade)

Aaron Thompson- LP (released September 2010 by Sockets Records and Twilight Parade)

Vals/Bethany Lane/Icarus- EP
(released January 2010 by Sockets Records and Twilight Parade)

Songs to reach #1 on College radio charts:
Vals
Bethany Lane
Solitude

Photos

Bio

Aaron Thompson is an ambient folk musician living in Brooklyn, New York. Born into a military family, Aaron spent his first years in Germany, followed by a nomadic upbringing along America’s east coast. The images, sounds, fragments of cultures that he picked up along the way remained, and his music recalls these landscapes and tells their stories.

His full-length debut LP was released in September 2010 on Sockets Records, and his new EP, Vessel, was released in December 2011. His songs have been featured on CNN, MTV, the Discovery Network, and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC. His songs have reached #1 on college radio charts across the country.