SHREDnews

By: Jay Rowland

This Nebraska, gone New Yorker pop rock singer started his career in 1999, self recording his first album in his North Lincoln apartment. Gathering a band together Aaron started playing local shows in Nebraska. A local radio jock liked one of his tunes and started playing it on the radio. The bands local popularity grew and they then decided to go on tour. The tour unraveled and the band fell apart. After this Aaron recorded his EP, Inside My Skin which he finished in 2004. Shortly after finishing the EP he moved to New York City. In 2008 he released the album, Buy 1/Get 1 and now in 2009 his new album, Live Wires is finished and ready for his fans.

The first song on the album is, “The Middle”. This song has a great beat to it through out. I especially enjoy the guitar. This is an overall excellent choice for an intro to the album. It comes out hitting and grabbed my attention right away.  This would defiantly make for a great radio single.

In “Sink Or Swim”, Aaron sings about pulling “you” in to life and now “you” have to sink or swim, there’s no other option.  Aaron really showcases his voice in this one as it weaves in and out of the music perfectly. This song became my favorite song on the album.

The next song, “Therapy” is full of interesting lyrics that give your mind a happy, soda-like bubble sensation inside your head.  The lyrics hook you into the song right from the beginning.  About two minutes into the song is my favorite part where it melds into a slow strum of the guitar for a few beats

“Buried Alive” is the longest song on the album, clocking in at just over six minutes. The songs into is reminiscent of a haunting whale song. This song was also a favorite of mine. I really liked the haunting sound of both the music and Aaron’s voice as they twisted into one magical sound.

Following “Buried Alive”, Aaron picks the beat up with “Change My Mind”. The song leads us on a tale of how Aaron is troubled by how every time he actually starts to feel better a “certain some one” points out to him just why he shouldn’t be feeling fine. He points out in the song that he wants to be left alone and feel better.

“False Alarm” once again beautifully melds Aaron’s “dreamy” voice with the instruments to the point you almost forget there even are vocals to the song. In this song he speaks of wanting to call this problem just one more false alarm because it can be worked out and it’s not worth losing it all over such a little thing.

I’ll admit, at first I really didn’t enjoy this album all that much. Not because it’s a bad album. Not at all! It’s because I listen to punk and harder rock most of the time. But after having listened to the album a few times it grew on me. Even some one with differing music styles than the normal Aaron Zimmer fan can really get into this CD. I really enjoy how his voice blends with the music in every song. This is defiantly a great “date” album also. Pop this one in when you are sitting on the couch and let it work its magic!

For fans of: John Mayor, Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, Jason Mraz, Lifehouse, Matchbox Twenty

Top tracks to listen to: Sink Or Swim, Buried Alive, Hard Lines

Rating: 7 out of 10

Find out more about Aaron Zimmer: http://aaronzimmer.com/

Track List:

1. The Middle
2. Sink Or Swim
3. Therapy
4. Buried Alive
5. Change My Mind
6. False Alarm
7. Get This Over With
8. Well Enough
9. Save Myself
10. If I Were You
11. Hard Lines