Aaron Matthew - Alone

Aaron Matthew

Alone
self-released; 2020

​3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Aaron Matthew is an artist who recently released “Alone.” He mentions that “it’s made for listening to while on pandemic quarantine, societal lockdown and forced social distancing.” Truth be told Matthews wasn’t the only one who had this idea. Artists everywhere started working on “quarantine tunes” and well sort of it became its own little genre. This is a song that is a welcome addition to the genre.

He mentions that “It sounds like Bob Dylan meets Jack Johnson and touches on contemporary themes.” That is a statement I agree with although I think the theme of being or feeling alone is timeless and the lyrics on this are pretty broad and the concept of the pandemic is very loosely touched upon. 

The song has a very familiar singer/songwriter vibe. I’m sure you might have heard the warmth, intimacy and and often heartfelt lyrics that come along with this genre and Matthews goes right down the center of those factors and more or less hits it on the nose.

Musically, the song consists of a couple acoustic guitars and very subtle percussion. The vocals are the focal point and sung with the proper and appropriate inflection to my ears. The emotions are a mix of comforting, warm and perhaps insightful solace. The tone and affectation again very much goes right down the center of what to expect from the singer/songwriter. On that note it happens to be done quite well. The vocals are well delivered and the performances are strong too. 

As an engineer myself I thought the recording was good and tailored to the vibe of the song. The recording doesn’t contain much reverb which is a good thing in this case and instead relies on the nuances of the performance. This is the type of situation where intimacy is important. You sort of want the performance to feel like he is sitting right next to you. It should be organic and raw and that doesn't mean it should be lo-fi. This recording benefits from fidelity and is accompanied by a raw, live performance. Kudos.

​I liked this song and think it is a song that so many people will empathize with. There weren’t any surprises to me as I listened but it was enjoyable and easy on the ears. It also feels like it would be accessible to a broad audience. That might be you so take a listen.

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