Chris DeLine

Approach Influenza as a series which serves to help give insight as to where music is born; these are the thoughts, influences and the inspirations directly from the mind of the artists. In this edition, the first from Calgary-based singer/songwriter Aaron Booth, he expands upon “Voice in the Night,” arguably the most infectious song from his forthcoming Back Stories release. The self-proclaimed roots-pop songsmith describes the track’s lyrics as those which help calculate the emotional ability to take each of life’s actions without a grain of regret. Later suggesting the arrangement to be in the vein of Pet Sounds, Booth concludes that despite his near decade long recording history he has only just begun.

On “Voice In The Night”:

This is a song about navigating life’s sea of intangibles: “Our winding road leaving the light / nowhere, somewhere, we will arrive / I hear your voice in the night.” One makes thousands of choices each day, yet nothing is ever certain. All decisions carry risk, and yet something propels me forward with enough energy that I don’t look back or think much about the other paths I could have taken. With varying degrees of success, confidence and proficiency, I accept uncertainty, push ahead and rationalize this driving force into the unknown as a voice in the night, like a beacon or lighthouse guiding me through the darkness.

While that sounds a bit heavy, “Voice In The Night” really carries a message of optimism. And I think the driving, buoyant feeling of the music creates my desired context of hope for the underlying meaning of the song. The arrangement is designed to have many layers of melody and counterpoint voicing – a sonic tapestry. I want the listening experience of this song to be one of envelopment, like a cozy blanket. It’s a new approach I’ve been taking to arrangement, inspired by artists such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and even Bach. Though I think Brian Wilson is the artist who creates the most warmth for this style of arrangement on the Pet Sounds album. I love the idea of small melodic fragments woven together to create a huge, dynamic, sonic landscape to explore over multiple listens. I’m only scratching the surface of this arrangement style in “Voice In The Night” but I plan to explore it further in my upcoming recordings. – Aaron Booth

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]