Aerial East – Try Harder
‘Try Harder’ is the second album from New York City based artist Aerial East, the follow up to ‘Room’, which was released back in 2016. Aerial has previously worked with musicians such as Okay Kaya and Kelsey Lu. This album is described as being “a deeply personal coming of age record that deals with themes such as loneliness, gender roles, friendships, suicide, the breakdown of relationships and what it’s like to be a woman growing up in America”. Aerial’s goal was to give a voice to people who she believes often feel unheard.
The first track ‘Try Harder’ starts strongly, with an ambient guitar focused introduction making way for piano and vocals to shine through. The vocal ability in this song grabbed my attention the most, with some parts a little reminiscent of Joni Mitchell. ‘Try Harder’ is a strong opening to the album and gives a flavour of how the rest of the record will sound in terms of composition.
Particular stand-out songs for me were ‘Katharine’, which perfectly depicts friendship and growing up, as illustrated in lyrics like “when I needed you, you took me to your room”. ‘San Angelo’ describes the plight of a woman wanting to escape from the US city of the same name; lyrics like “that old flat part of the world” and “I flew to the city” describing her desire to escape to somewhere more interesting and lively. As someone with a similar background and desires, I found this song resonated strongly. Track 8, ’Angry Man’ is about wanting a relationship to work even though it is in some way abusive and toxic; lines like “even when you started calling names” and “I don’t wanna say goodbye, but you couldn’t love me right”, are quite literally about the experience of being involved with an angry man. Curiously this was also the only song on the album featuring any sort of percussion, even then it was only a Tambourine. This more acoustic approach was a conscious choice by Aerial, which initially shocked her collaborators, but she explained that her desire was to produce something “healing and calm”, something I think she achieved with this album.
A couple of songs worthy of mention are ‘Jonas Said’ which has characteristics of a gospel song, being filled with impressive harmonies and finger snapping. ‘Jonas Said’ is very short and acts like a cool interlude which deals with women’s oppression and sexism through lyrics like “now I’m a woman being oppressed” and “now I see how they hold us down”. Track 11, ’Brennan’ contains an opening which is a little different to the other songs, starting with a John Mayer style lead guitar, which felt refreshing, and tells the story of a friend (Brennan) who she met when she moved to Texas, “Brennan was my friend”.
Holistically speaking, ‘Try Harder’ covers some very difficult topics and uses a storytelling technique as its main focus. Songs like ‘Katharine’ and ‘Be Leavin’ provide an insight into the artists history and the paths she has taken. I found the fact that Aerial is willing to take us along for the ride, no matter how private, highly engaging. The unique and delicate vocals of East shine throughout the whole album, carrying the listener through each story with ease. The beautiful piano melodies which litter the songs are a perfect accompaniment for East’s voice. I would recommend listening to this album, it is relatable, moving and full of twists and turns.
‘Try Harder’ is out 12/02/2021.
Alice Bloor
