Aaron Lee Tasjan’s cover for his latest album, Silver Tears, may sum up the sound of his eclectic music taste well: a sterling gleam in a dusty, somber blue sky. Although this East Nashvillian has been in bands such as New York Dolls and Semi Precious Weapons, there is a quiet folk reverie to his boisterous roots that he has been exploring in his solo career. As an artist who claims to use a variety of styles, many of which are heard throughout Silver Tears, including twangy ballads, honky tonk boot stompers, and toe tapping pop rock numbers like “Hard Life,” no wonder Tasjan’s sound may be more difficult to navigate than stairs in a M.C. Escher lithograph. However, that’s what makes Tasjan such an exciting and refreshing artist.
Tasjan will be performing Friday December 16 at The Hummingbird Stage & Taproom along with Macon’s own Widow Pills. Below is a glimpse into Tasjan’s music: just a few incentives to gear up for his show and get decked out in your best sequin suit.
“Little Movies”
There’s a wonderful easiness to this song, reminiscent of Big Star’s 70’s rock hits like “The Ballad of El Goodo.” According to Tasjan, “Little Movies” was inspired from snapshots in his mind. And while writing this song, and a few others from Silver Tears, Tasjan had actually microdosed acid that had been given to him in a balled up napkin from a fan in the audience at one of his shows.
“Ready To Die”
This song is just Outlaw as hell! Gritty, hard, and white-knuckled, Tasjan not only shows a roughness to his slick, bluesy lyrics, but his guitar solo bombards the track with so much powerful raucous there’s almost a faint sound of Budweiser bottles breaking in a bar fight.
“Memphis Rain”
Apart from the beauty of this video evoking a combination of 8mm film and Polaroid pictures, the song shows that Tasjan understands songwriting and the listeners’ attachment to visualizing and feeling the song. The song exudes a pensive and hopeful mood, waiting for the rain to clear. Tasjan wrote this song in connection with a dream about musician Jay Reatard singing the song on a motorcycle engulfed in flames and a real life event about a woman standing outside a bar in the pouring rain fighting with her boyfriend.
Widow Pills: “Back Down to Georgia” and “Solo Crow”
Widow Pills has been in hiatus for awhile, at least from the stage. But these boys have been working on some new tunes that will surely be rowdy and doused with a little spooky southern twist. Their music entwines early country with heavy hitting breakdowns, much of which has been influenced by some of the bandmates backgrounds with punk and psych music. It’s a barrage of complexities that just make the cog fit and their high energy makes nothing short of a fun live show.
SHOW INFO
Read our previous interview with Aaron Lee Tasjan here.