Welcome to the meandering musical insights of Aaron Joy (me!), formerly known as the Roman Midnight Music Blog. Here you'll find nearly 750 reviews of CDs & DVDs of rock & metal in all its variations, mainstream & indie, good & bad, U.S. & foreign. A new review every Monday.

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September 5, 2011

Aron Lyrd ~ Zero (album review) ... Is this a miracle or a curse?


Style: alt rock, pop rock, experimental
Label: Eclipse Sunrise Records
Year: 2011
Home: Pennsylvania

Members: Aron Lyrd ~ all instruments
Zero, the newest release by this one man zeitgeist, pulls together an array of music styles from power pop to electronica to Paul Weller/Style Council-esque mod. There's an easy breezy feeling to the music & lyrics but underneath is a serious mood & message ... even more profound then one might expect & definitely more than most musicians who make the same claim of personal insights in their music. Since 2004 Lyrd has been nearly fully paralyzed, eventually regaining use of his arm & writing poetry to help his rehabilitation which led to making music. Music has become something special for Lyrd both as a tool for dealing with his personal/physical trauma but also for reaching out across the world to share his message of hope, in the process both rediscovering himself as a person & developing as an artist. All the music is computer generated but instead of going for the typical electronica Lyrd is more interesting in creating music as if he was in an actual band. Lyrd incorporates the sounds of guitars, bass, piano & drums for something that wouldn't sound out of place on a pop radio station coming up behind a tune by Oasis, let alone there's nothing about it to belay that Lyrd has any physical difficulties helped in part by excellent keyboard breaks, guitar solos & even backing vocals. It's very impressive what Lyrd has created & I'm almost embarrassed to mention his physical limitations considering this is so much more intricate than a lot of bands out there with fully functioning bodies. Zero includes some previously released songs, obvious from the lower production quality of the older songs, but shows how far Lyrd has developed as an artist. It's not the most cohesive sounding release Lyrd has created as it feels more like a greatest hits collection. Not just does Lyrd not fall party to typical electronica, but he aims for a range of styles. "Orange Ambition" is a piano intensive highlight ... with even a bit of cowbell. While "A Miracle Or A Curse" uses the rockabilly motif right down to the singing. The feeling of country music returns with the rock ballad "White Hot, Not Quite" & the twang of "Some Lie, While Others Cry." "I Did It My Way" is disco funk jam while "Graduates Day" could be straight out of the Oasis catalog. As far as I know Lyrd's music didn't get developed fully until after his illness, which shows how great art can come out of a potentially bad situation. & no, if you're wondering, you won't get depressed from his music. Though the lyrics might sometimes come out of depression, as the titles slightly belay, the music is anything but.

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