Aaron Lee Tasjan is set to release his latest album, Silver Tears, on October 28th via New West Records, which follows last year’s self-released In The Blazes.
Silver Tears was produced by Eli Thomson (Father John Misty) and features a band comprised of Thomson, David Vandervelde, Frank Lenz (Starflyer 59, Richard Swift), Dan Bailey (First Aid Kit), Max Hart (Guster), and Charlie Peterson. While calling East Nashville home, Tasjan recorded the entirety of Silver Tears in Southern California at Elliott Smith’s former studio New Monkey in Van Nuys, as well as Sonikwire Studios in Irvine, and Club Casino in Huntington Beach. “Romantically, I had the idea of Tom Petty in the studio, jamming, trying to capture different feels and see where the day was,” Tasjan reveals. “I wanted it to be live, to have that intensity that draws people in.”
While In The Blazes hinted at Tasjan’s potential, Silver Tears best realizes his artistic ambitions–it careens from pot paeans to brooding, cinematic observations, to laid back ‘70s country-rock and introspective folk. Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman’s playfulness, Elliott Smith’s melodicism, John Prine’s masterful way with words and nods to Tom Petty can be found. No stranger to mind-expanding substances, having written most of the aptly-named In The Blazes in a cloud of marijuana smoke, Tasjan had a fit of LSD-fueled creativity for Silver Tears. “I decided to try this thing called microdosing where you just take little bits all day long, and stay suspended in this slightly altered state. I set up a studio in my living room to record on garageband, went with a classic tambourine/duct tape drum set…suspended a RadioShack mic from the ceiling fan. You know, the essentials. It was amazing and in a creative burst I wrote ‘Little Movies,’ ‘Ready To Die,’ ‘Dime,’ and ‘Where The Road Begins and Ends’ all that day.”
Mother Church Pew was able to capture the live performance of “Little Movies”, watch and get a small dose of Tasjan’s musical magic:
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