Music
Press
Selling your guitar to pay for recording your tunes must count among the more poignant songwriter's images. In the case of former Imaginary Baseball Leaguer Robinson, we're guessing he'll be able to buy a few more. Solo debut "We Are Racing Ghosts" is deeply felt indie pop. - C-Net / Download.com
(“We Are Racing Ghosts”) balances lilting, heart-on-the-sleeve emo-pop with AC sophistication.” .::. Chris Parker, The Nashville Scene - The Nashville Scene
“(Robinson) has a lot of touching songs with nice tunes and an appealing higher-register croon.” .::. Ken Barnes, USA Today - USA Today
“(We Are Racing Ghosts) features several intense, agonizing but striking and effective pieces that are often biographical.” .::. Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper - Nashville City Paper
"Aaron Robinson makes his solo bow with a daunting set of songs borne from bittersweet circumstance . . . We Are Racing Ghosts is every bit as haunting as its title implies."
-- +Performing Songwriter Magazine, June 2008 - Performing Songwriter Magazine
"...shades of Springsteen, Jeff Tweedy . . . We Are Racing Ghosts is full of inspirational, well-intentioned pop songs..."
-- +PopMatters.com, April 2008 - Popmatters.com
"Robinson’s vocals could remind new listeners of Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, but the stories in his songs also have the restlessness of Pete Yorn..."
-- +Southeast Performer Magazine, April 2008 - Southeast Performer Magazine
"With several distinguished guests aboard like Garrison Starr, Eamon McLoughlin from the Greencards and producer Neilson Hubbard, Robinson’s work is alternately beautiful, haunting, mournful and quite effective."
-- +Maverick Country Magazine, April 2008 - Maverick Country Magazine
"Ghosts succeeds with sharp songwriting, but also its determination - in songwriting and production - to not overthink things and simply move forward. Here's hoping Robinson's next effort will come with the speed and ease displayed here."
-- +All The Rage, April 2008 - All The Rage - Nashville
"(On Ghosts), strummy and expansive alt-country-ish backing fills the peripherals and commits to focusing on Robinson's tight melodies and highly emotive delivery . . . Three stars."
-- +The Tennessean, April 2008 - The Tennessean
Discography
Solo:
We Are Racing Ghosts (2008)
w/ Imaginary Baseball League:
Revive (2004)
Cardiact (EP) (2003)
The Letter (EP) (2002)
Photos
Bio
Nashville songsmith Aaron Robinson released his debut solo album, We Are Racing Ghosts (Undertow) on April 15th, 2008. The sound and story of the record confirm the maturation of the former leader behind Nashville’s lamented indie-pop quartet Imaginary Baseball League. Along with its catchy pop hooks and lush arrangements, We Are Racing Ghosts is rife with haunting stories of Aaron’s own musical family tree, most evident in the stark “Dreamers And Preachers” and the kinetic folk-pop of “Broken Heart Empty Room”, both of which figuratively and literally mourn the “death of a dream”. The record beautifully and openly documents the frantic self-analysis of an heir to some lofty expectations.
After selling off many personal items to finance the record, including the guitar with which all the songs were written, Aaron recorded Ghosts during the summer of 2007. Produced by Neilson Hubbard (Glen Phillips, Matthew Ryan), the record includes memorable performances by Hubbard himself, songwriter Garrison Starr, and The Greencards’ Eamon McLoughlin. The struggles and sacrifices endured in making the record are reflected in the finished product. We Are Racing Ghosts is a record with heart. It is a disarming collage of music & lyrics meant to be shared, and an intimate portrait of an artist’s call to duty.
So far, Ghosts has received extensive local and national attention from Paste, Performing Songwriter Magazine, American Songwriter Magazine, The Tennessean, USA Today, SE Performer Magazine, The Nashville Scene, All The Rage, AOL Music, C-Net, and more. Aaron and his new band showcased twice at the 2008 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX.
The band and Aaron are already at work writing and arranging new material for the next record, which Aaron says will be “sonically darker” and “lyrically more intense” than Ghosts. “The first record was mostly obsessed with dreams and death, or dreams vs. death”, Aaron admits. “There’s a sort of battle between what you know you want to do, and whether you are strong enough to do it.” Aaron explains that the new material oppositely appears to be focused on the concepts of reality and life. “Dreams of ‘making it’ aren't as important to me now. I just want to make emotional records full of effortless sounding melodies, not just vocal ones, and an overall sound that is undeniably moving”.
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