There are many ways to go about things creatively. Porches, the moniker of New York-based artist Aaron Maine, discovered this when writing his third album, The House. He took to writing and recording every day, in a journal-style approach.
Maine describes the album as a collection of diaristic vignettes about what was going on in his life at the time. While the idea may seem like a concept record, Maine is quick to shrug off the description. For him, this record was his reality.
“I wrote it during a pretty charged time in my life where I was in a unique situation. I’d gotten myself into quite a routine, kind of like a regime, where I would write and record every day and that’s not something I’d done in the past,” he says. “No matter what happened, where I was or what was going on, I would wake up and write and I found a lot of interesting things to sing about.
“Naturally, because it was written and recorded over a pretty condensed period of time, I noticed linear content running through it, and it felt right to go with that and continue the regime and force myself to get through these songs and try not to over think it too much. Let it speak for itself at the end of the process.”
Maine collaborated with a series of different artists to create this album, including Blood Orange, (Sandy) Alex G, and his own father Peter Maine. He calls himself a bit of a control freak when it came to writing and producing the heart of the songs, but towards the end of the process he felt excited to bring other people into the picture and capture some of their personality in his music.
It’s his father’s input on ‘Understanding’ that was the most moving for Maine. “I remember the vocal take being pretty striking and fragile. It struck a chord with me, so I asked him when I got home if he’d send me the vocal track and he did,” he says. “It sits there almost like a narrator coming in or like the voice of your conscious speaking. It allows me to step back and hear someone else talk and someone else can hear the rest of my experience through that which feels really good in the context of the album.”
For Maine it was the environment growing up in Westchester County – a county in New York State – that shaped his musical influence. He didn’t travel to the city very often growing up and was happy being in his hometown, making music in an artistic community. “I wasn’t really a part of the New York City music scene until I moved down here, I don’t really know if I’m a part of it now,” he says. “It was not until my earlier 20s that I was exposed to it. I wish that it shaped my music more than it did, if I had been more inclined growing up to spend more time in the city, but I was pretty content in this town called Pleasantville.”
After the release of The House, 2018 will be a year of heavy touring for Maine. He remains realistic, reflecting on how life can be tough on the road, especially being away from friends and family for so long. However, he looks forward to a productive year, possibly featuring an Australian tour. “We’ve mentioned at the end of the year going to Australia because it will be our first time there and I’ve only heard amazing things about it. I hope we get there, I guess if people want us to come we’ll go.”
