Aubrey Wood

Hailing from Connecticut, but residing in Los Angeles, Aubrey Wood creates emotive pieces of Top 40 ear candy with crystal clear vocals, pop hooks, and edgy guitar compositions. The new five-track release is an exciting release of pop music that is very mature overall with catchy melodies and memorable riffs.

“Picking Petals” opens with a little static, a few guitar strums and Aubrey’s slightly radio-static voice. The vocals become clearer and static-free as background strings accompany the vocals and clapping percussion. The pop song is riddled with luscious licks and guitar riffs with Aubrey’s vocals that are similar in tone with Michelle Branch, Avril Lavigne, and JoJo. Keyboard embellishments fill in the track with symphonic beauty. The pizzicato strings create an Enya element that is more pop than classical in form. The chorus features spacious guitars and a catchy melody with Coldplay-like or Fountains of Wayne-like guitar structures. The vocals are multi-layered with cascading sounds of crystalline brilliance.

“Love Sick” opens with keyboard accompaniment in the form laser-like synth sounds. The sound gives way for glitzy power pop electronics and a fresh, young voice with guitar accompaniment that is full of Top 40 quality. The song contains a steady beat and some lyrics that are almost spoken instead of sung. Still, the music progresses into a poppy tone that ends with keyboard sounds of swirling synths, ambient effects, and grungy guitar riffs that gently fades out at the end of the song.

“Smile” begins with a few sparkly guitar lines with a little electronic chime. The vocals are rather reserved, but they are accompanied by symphonic keyboard washes and speckles of brighter electronic sounds. The guitar is accompanied by a little percussion that is not very heavy. This is not a power pop anthem, as the other songs imply. Instead, the music is relatively low-key compared to other songs.

“Island” opens with a little dance percussion and electronic embellishments that are swishy and laser-like. The guitar sound is big on the chorus, but it is not particularly rock laden. The vocals are accompanied by a few electronic sounds, as in “Picking Petals.” The music is relatively catchy, as in other songs on the album. There is nothing amiss here, though some of the electronic noises suggest a slight dance music nod. Nevertheless, Aubrey still knows how to produce pure power pop pleasure.

“In The End” opens with a slightly electronic song with urban, up-tempo vocals in a type of contemporary R&B format. However, the music flows gently into a pop melody with light industrial, amped up electronica. The music is littered with groovy melodies with spacious percussion and sparkling vocals. The music moves from electronic dance to power pop, but the electronic trills, noises, and vibrations outweigh other types of musical arrangements not observed much on the other songs. At any rate, Aubrey knows how to produce dance songs with some power pop mixed in.

Picking Petals is a fine release of youthful, yet mature power pop music with glowing vocals, fresh riffs, and contemporary electronic adornments. The relatively short album of only five songs is not necessarily a downside, because the quality of the music is very good. Aubrey’s careful balance of pop and dance is exacerbated by the relatively different song structures on each song. The symphonic keyboard washes, varied percussion, and fairly wide vocal range is something that is highly-desirable for power pop songs. Nothing is particularly troublesome and the guitar arrangements are very memorable. Fans of the vocal geniuses, JoJo, Michelle Branch, and Avril Lavigne, will find much happiness and hook-laden songs on Aubrey’s latest release.
?Artist: Aubrey Wood
Album: Picking Petals
Review by Matthew Forss
Rating: 5 Stars (out of 5)


- Matthew Forss - Inside World Music

The late 2000’s to early 2010’s brought the musical world two distinct kinds of female pop stars.  On one end of the spectrum are the provocative dance pop artists such as Lady Gaga, Kesha, and Katy Perry, while the other end houses the softer, sweeter side of pop with Carly Rae Jepsen, and Taylor Swift.  Eighteen year old Aubrey Wood falls more in step with the softer side of pop, but with a bit more of an introspective edge to her lyrics.  Vocally, Wood’s higher pitch and lighter delivery resembles Jepsen, but her lyrics are more akin to Kelly Clarkson’s My December period, when her writing was taken from the pages of her own life.  Sometimes the overly sleek and electronic production from collaborator Gia Sky, works against Wood’s lyrical style, but it still produces a collection of strong pop songs with an emotional heart.

The title track also functions as the EP’s opener and it’s a fitting introduction to Wood and Sky’s sound. Sky wisely keeps the arrangement simple with an emphasis on Wood’s voice and a simple guitar riff. The percussion track is also remarkably simple, consisting of handclaps and a drum machine beat. As the song progresses, the guitars get a bit more electric and fierce, but so does Wood’s voice, and that’s where the song’s power radiates from. When Wood opens up on the song’s final chorus, she shows that her previously gentle voice is just a small part of her range and that she’s more than able to carry the emotion within her lyrics.

“Love Sick” follows this up in a poppier fashion and fully embraces the Taylor Swift/Carly Rae Jepsen style of songwriting and structure. The production does include some superfluously electronic elements to it, but Wood holds the song together with her rapid delivery of a lyric where she laments, “What a fool of me to think of you and still believe/Now what’s a girl like me supposed to do when she falls for somebody like you?” The crunching power chords that follow this question add just the right amount of grit and snarl to the music

In a far more depressing turn, Wood sings about faking happiness, simply to make it through life, on “Smile.” The production is pretty minimalist for the most part; aside from the faux strings that add just a touch of tension and melancholy to the arrangement, the song is mostly a vehicle for Wood’s voice and the repeated guitar riff that she sings over. Sky does add some wonderfully stinging guitar lines in parts of the song which also compliment Wood’s singing. There are points where her tendency to turn “smile” into a four or five syllable word is a bit much, but it doesn’t totally pull the listener out of the song.

Despite the bouncy keyboard melody that “Island” is based on, this is the only track of the five that doesn’t quite hold its own. While it has its own distinct sound compared to the rest of the EP, it feels too generic. The theme of isolation and loneliness being one’s own island is nothing terribly original and lacks the lyrical punch to differentiate itself from the work of Wood’s contemporaries. There’s absolutely nothing unpleasant about the song and its light keyboards and harder guitars, it just doesn’t feel as inspired as say, the title track does.

Fortunately Picking Petals rebounds with its closer, “In The End.” Instead of the happy, bouncy keyboards that propelled “Island,” Sky has replaced them with a darker, electronic sound. Wood still fires off a relentlessly charging lyrical performance, but there’s a tougher edge to her on this. This change in delivery is wisely complimented by the essentially Europop dance beat as the more forceful percussion track and prevalent keyboards represent a change in musical direction as well. One could make the valid argument that it does sound a bit out of place when compared to the EP as a whole, but then again the songs are all about Wood’s life and the things she’s felt. From that perspective it would be completely natural for different emotions to create different moods and sounds, which is part of what “In The End” represents.

At only eighteen years of age, Aubrey Wood has managed to create a surprisingly deep and effective pop album that also has its own sense of identity. Producer Gia Sky largely helps to draw out the emotional weight of Wood’s lyrics with effectively varied arrangements, even though some of them might work a little better if they were less electronic and more organic. Overall, Picking Petals is sonically accessible enough to please music fans that are waiting to hear the next, “Call Me Maybe,” and complex enough to surprise those who listen more deeply.
?Artist: Aubrey Wood
EP: Picking Petals
Review by: Heath Andrews
Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)

- Heath Andrews

Aubrey Wood really brings out the hopeless romantic out in me with her latest EP, Picking Petals. The stories that so closely chronicle this young artists life makes it both relatable and inspirational. Picking Petals, the follow-up to her self-released 2010 debut was released November 13, 2012, on the CD Baby Label, is set up to be every teenage girls comeback story of the year.
This EP first starts off with Picking Petals, a track that makes you really think about the past; a first love. She talks about lost innocence and love, believing the petals she'd once picked as a younger girl saying 'he loves me, he loves me not,' using the lyrics, “for us those pretty little flowers just knew how to lie.”
As the entire EP continues, Picking Petals transitions to Love Sick, a poppy, upbeat song where she is upset, but still looking on the bright side. When Love Sick fades into the next track, Smile, you fall into the EP head over heels. Smile is a slower song with uplifting tones and small guitar riffs that give you hope about moving on. The fourth track, Island, becomes a bit edgy, leaving behind the innocent, bubble-gumesque pop vibe and bringing a new sense to the EP.
Bringing Picking Petals to a close is the song, The End; an edgier pop anthem for teenage girls to regain hope. Any girl who says she doesn't want to grab a hair brush and sing this feel-good song or blast it in their speakers for an instant pick-me-up, obviously hasn't listened to this yet.
With a voice that is reminiscent of a younger Taylor Swift with more edge and pop, and mixing in hints of Carly Rae Jespen and Demi Lovato, this EP will give you new hopes for 2013. - Big Smile Magazine