American songwriter Aaron Frazer rose to fame as drummer with the golden voice behind Durand Jones. You can hear his falsetto on fan favorite Is It Any Wonder?, for example. Before that, he played and sang with the blues rock band Charlie Patton’s War, who made one – hard to find – album (Rock ‘N’ Roll House Party is on my wantlist for years; anyone have a copy available?). You can recognize him out of thousands in a video of an old street performance, but both his drumming and singing were a lot rougher then than nowadays. What a contrast to Introducing…, Aaron Frazer’s debut solo album, produced by Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach and recorded with a crew of heavy session players, including members of the Memphis Boys. The 12 new tracks offer a mix of classic soul, disco, gospel and doo-wop, all pretty smooth and radio / bedroom friendly. Introducing… is co-released today on Easy Eye Sound and Dead Oceans. It might be too slick for our taste, but it could just become a soul classic that you put next to your Curtis Mayfield and Smokey Robinson records.
Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs || Aaron Frazer Store
Bonus: these are the videos of album songs that have been posted online so far.
If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)
Can’t Leave It Alone
Bad News
Over You