A student of mine recently asked me, "How do you know about so many bands?!" Besides the fact that I have 3 decades of listening to music on him, I explained that one of the best ways to discover new bands is to pay attention to any smaller, locally and independently run, music venue near you. These locations are where the best new musicians and bands often make their tour debuts. For me, that local venue is The Radio Room. I've discovered many bands that I've taken a serious liking to by either checking them out live there or looking up their music on various streaming platforms. A.A. Williams is one of those artists that I discovered this way. Although I couldn't make the show The Radio Room sponsored due to scheduling conflicts, I looked up her music and listened to her debut album, Forever Blue (2020). Her follow up album, As the Moon Rests (2022) solidified me as a fan of her music, and made me deeply regretful I missed seeing her live. With her 2026 release, Solstice, Williams continues to deepen and expand her sound. A sound that amalgamates alt-rock, goth rock, doom metal, and post-classical and transcends many of her fellow musicians' compositions working with similar post-modern modes and genres.
Her three albums, if one considers their titles, form a sort of triptych. Thematically, you have Forever Blue evoking the forever natural color of the sky, setting the backdrop for the next two. As the Moon Rests hints at a dark night without a moon, as if during a new moon phase when the moon is at "rest." Solstice, whose title represents either the longest or shortest day, focuses on the brightest celestial body (from which "Solstice" takes its name), both scientifically and metaphorically, and therefore the brightest aspect of the "forever blue" in opposition to the time when the "moon rests." The lyrics of "The Veil" from Solstice suggest it's the summer solstice being referenced here: "Wasting away like the longest day/I can't keep this flame alive on my own." This can all be interpreted as Williams setting the metaphorical stage and traversing through the dark and light of the overarching backdrop, again both metaphorically and actually. The cyclical and dual relationship of light and dark, day and night, length and brevity, sorrow and resilience all inform the nature of Williams' music as the songs guide you through the dark moonless nights and long daytime Solstices of the human experience.
So okay, maybe the English teacher in me is guilty of interpretive overreach, but it's a solid interpretation nevertheless that adds a deeper dimension to Williams' themes and music. Judging from the categorization various reviewers have assigned to Williams' music, it's all pretty dark and melancholic, with a burst of light escaping here and there both lyrically and musically. For example, "It Won't Rain Forever," one of the best tracks on Solstice hints at a certain resilience and hope in the face of darkness, if only through the song's lyrics: "Days grow cold and the/Light gets old but/I'll still remember/I'll still remember/Cause there is pain in/every movement,/But there is agony in calm,/Just like walking on pins/We still carry on." Sometimes, still carrying on is the best message of hope. The music here also bespeaks a certain heft in spirits with its ascending guitar tones and gentle piano strokes. "It Won't Rain Forever," forms a powerful coda/companion to "The Veil." Both songs address metaphoric barriers that have to be broken through or pierced for any type of healing to begin or advance upon the darkness to be made. Both songs also address the duality that is the aforementioned human experience which often exists on the opposite sides of a metaphoric veil, or barrier.
Herein lies the "post-classical" element of Williams' music thematically. While technically, much like the titles of her albums, post-classical can be defined actually and figuratively, It can mean a merging of classical instruments with contemporary ones that eschews complex constructions for a minimalist approach. It also can be described in the more figurative sense, again like her albums titles, as moving beyond the complex themes that defined many classical music compositions, especially entire symphonies, in favor of simple, direct musical themes. There's little by way of complexity in Williams' themes lyrically. That is not a disparaging observation though. Sometimes a simple theme, rendered through complexity, which her musical compositions are instrumentally, is the highest form of artistic communication. Williams seems to have mastered this form of artistic communication relatively early in her career. Her music employs the simplest aspects of classical music in order to create a highly sophisticated overall sound when married to modern instrumentation. Duality of theme is present in the music as well as the lyrics and album titles.
None of this type of interpretation is necessary to simply enjoy the music that A.A. Williams produces though. Her sound, a mixture of orchestral goth rock with shades of doom metal and classical instrumentation strewn throughout, alone makes for a compelling listen. Heavy guitar chords are juxtaposed against lighter piano lines in ways that Evanescence only barely approaches in artistic complexity and power. All of this combines to create a unique listening experience that shouldn't be rushed or overlooked. Solstice represents the ongoing mastering of a powerful sound that Williams continues to build upon with each album. Discovering Williams' music and themes is a powerful thing, however you find it. I encourage you to do so. It will enrich your own human experience of music overall.
No comments:
Post a Comment