’Aer – Says She Loves Me’
’Aer – Spades, Clubs & Diamonds’
The most innovative artists are often those who transcend and challenge genre constraints. Over the last couple years, Boston-based Aer have shown an admirable disregard for categorization, steadily building a following with their sunny, style-fusing sound. Today marks the release of Aer’s sophomore album, an appropriately self-titled project that truly captures their essence. From start to finish, Aer feels like the young duo’s most cohesive project to date, progressing their sound and narrative to a new level of maturity. I was lucky enough to chat with the guys behind Aer, Carter and David, and found them to be full of good vibrations, just like their music. Stream a few tracks above, check the interview down below and make sure to head to grab the album HERE.
TMN: Let’s start at the beginning. I know you met in high school and were part of a larger band back then. I was curious, what was the name of your band and what kind of music were you playing when you first started?
Carter: We were called Moken Airwalk, which is kind of funny, because some people are trying to draw the connection that we took the name Aer from Airwalk, but it was unrelated. We were a 4-piece band—it was vocals, guitar, bass and drums. The music was heavily influenced by the Red Hot Chili Peppers so it was kind of like smooth melodic rock, but we also had a lot of hard funk.
TMN: Tell us a bit about your progress and growth in the last few years and how things have changed since the inception of AER.
David: The focus hasn’t really changed at all. It’s still been about us enjoying, growing and sharing our experiences through the music. But what has changed is just the amount of fans has grown and it’s crazy to see that. To go to these shows in different parts of the world, even now like in Europe, to see fans come out is incredible. To me, that’s really the only thing that feels like it has changed. We still work with the same people; we still have the same team from the get-go and have just been building on top of it.
TMN: One of the things I love about your music is how hard it is to categorize. How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it before? What kind of genres would you include?
Carter: I alway just try and tell people to listen to three songs and then make their own definition because it’s definitely hard like you said. But I always include, in no particular order, the words alternative, rock, hip-hop influence, reggae and some pop aspects too. If I had to compare it with some artists, I normally say Black Keys, Kid Cudi, Sublime and maybe Slightly Stoopid all in a big pot. Stir it all up, serve it up, put some butter and maybe some sauce on top, and see how you like it after that.
