Dryvetyme Onlyne

Aron Wright
In The Woods
Makeout Music; 2009

Sensitive singer-songwriter folk musician types get a bad rap on a fairly regular basis. In my estimation, such criticism is mostly (and justly) based upon the highly repetitive nature of the lyrical content and the manner in which the songs are constructed. Don’t get me wrong here – most of us will ‘fess up to those artists who are able to tug at our heartstrings just so, eliciting tears when the situation calls for it. The issue is that, since it’s easy to draw from the same wells over and over again, we shouldn’t be surprised when those emotions run dry through over-use (much less over-manipulation).

What sets Aron Wright apart from such hackneyed strummers is that he’s not afraid to be pointed and direct with his melancholy. He isn’t some pining, brooding, and weepy whiner, plucking out three-chord paeans to some long-lost lover. Instead, In The Woods is a collection of stark, frank stories of love both lost and gained, ones that are full of color, not the typical sense of gray despondence we’re used to hearing. Wright effectively employs a high tenor and an actual, clear falsetto (not the thin lilt of Chris Martin, et. al.), and does so while bringing together the sounds of Aaron Sprinkle, Seven Swans-era Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver (sans Auto-Tune), and Patti Griffin.

My favorite track on In The Woods is “What Have We Got To Lose?,“ an ode to a former girlfriend who chose to move onto another relationship, yet looks bored with it. However, Wright’s lyrical prowess is on display most prominently on “Pretty Girl” and “Song for the Waiting.” On the former, he waxes eloquent on the lamentable, but necessary, break-up conversation – “It was so, so clear that I had to break your heart because I can’t be here and we were never good apart. … Let’s make the pretty girl cry.” With the latter, we find the singer chronicling that all-too-familiar long drive to the abode of a girlfriend, despite the reservations he has with the relationship as he sings, “There’s no straight road tonight to take me home to lay me in my lover’s bed. … It’s not the road. it’s not the miles of being alone that tells my heart she should be aching. The danger’s in the waiting.”

What I like most about Wright’s lyrical style is that he isn’t afraid to admit to his faults. His tone is quite matter-of-fact and upfront when addressing any blame he’s placing on another or accepting upon himself. Moreover, while he can ask for a second chance, he seems more than aware of when it’s time to move on. Wright’s true skill is in the creation of situational imagery that is both comfortable and uncomfortable for guys in their high degree of realism (especially for those who aren’t typical folk music aficionados). In The Woods is the work of an honest singer-songwriter who actually prefers to lay aside the hysterical for the conversational.