Aaron Frazer - Into The Blue

 

2024 release from The Durand Jones & The Indications drummer and vocalist

Follow-up to the 2021 release Introducing...

Into the Blue features '90s R&B, 1950s-'60s rock 'n' roll, soul, and more from Aaron Frazer

A daring blend of soul, psychedelia, spaghetti western, disco, gospel and hip-hop, Into the Blue represents the impressive range of Frazer's sonic talents. Frazer maintains the unmistakable falsetto and classic songwriting he's known for, but plants Into the Blue firmly in the now with a hip-hop mentality at its core, weaving together genres and production techniques to form something new.

Into The Blue was conceived, like so many classic records, out of heartbreak. Frazer moved cross-country from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and embarked on a journey that's reflected in the album's themes of grief, loneliness, and searching for healing.

"Into The Blue really means heading into the unknown. That has been the last year of my life and I'm still in the blue," Frazer explains. "But there are also songs here that celebrate love and the giddiness of a new relationship and all that. That's part of a breakup to me, processing the whole thing, remembering the things that were right as much as the things that were wrong."

Frazer wrote on every track and played several live instruments on the album. The title track, "Into The Blue," is a haunting, resolute anthem, combining cinematic strings and tough-as-nails breakbeats as Frazer heads west. "Here I go, to a place where the broken heart knows," he sings. "It's all I can do. Back into the blue." "Payback" is an explosive dancefloor heater, featuring shimmering tambourines and driving bass lines. Northern soul drums meet snarling fuzz guitar, hurdling towards its epic conclusion.

The album features moments of towering arrangements, recalling David Axelrod and Ennio Merricone, balanced by rawness, incorporating iPhone recordings and one-take vocals. For Into the Blue, Frazer enlisted Grammy-winner Alex Goose as co-producer, known for his crate-digging samples and collaborations with hip-hop artists such as Freddie Gibbs, Madlib and Brockhampton. Frazer also experimented with samples for the first time on a record, drawing from unexpected sources like '90s R&B group Hi-Five.

 

 

1 Thinking of You

2 Into the Blue

3 Fly Away

4 Payback

5 Dime

6 Perfect Strangers

7 Time Will Tell

8 I Don't Wanna Stay

9 Play on

10 Easy to Love

11 The Fool

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