The year 2013 saw us Slow Dance in the Cosmos with Aaron Maine, better known as Porches.
In 2016 we took a deep dive into Pool and in 2018 we entered The House. Now in 2020, Porches invites us into the world of Ricky Music.
Driving in with the lead single ‘rangerover’ and followed by the cowbell heavy ‘Do You Wanna’, Porches has taken his signature sonic-scape and emotional lyrics even further, making Ricky Music his proudest work to date.
“I feel really proud of it and I feel like I’ve learned a lot through making music, especially the last album, The House,” Maine explains.
“I feel like I learned a lot about what I want to achieve through making music and the sort of relationship I want to have with the music I put out and I felt very determined to make the best possible piece of music that I could make.
“I was looking back to where I was when I was making Pool and how I really clicked with it and was really in the headphones paying as much attention as I could to every sound and every word, to just be as deliberate as I could this time around. I made it at home and did majority of the production myself and I feel myself there and I think like I’ve improved.
“I tried to experiment with my voice and vocal takes and my delivery, and I was able to hear my music with a little more perspective. I just want to outdo myself each time – that’s the idea.”
Recorded in his New York apartment from December 2017 to the US spring of 2019, Maine documented the rollercoaster of emotions he experienced throughout the time. He describes it as “an account of the beauty, confusion, anger, joy and sadness”, but mostly what this album represents is Maine’s tireless search for clarity.
“It was me trying to remember why I make music and what I enjoy about making music,” he reflects. “I think I lost track of doing it for me and how much you have to love it for it to translate. I was just trying to get back to a sort of fruitful place where it’s absolutely a labour of love.”
“There are moments of clarity on the record for sure,” he continues. “Emotionally, and even as an artist, I feel like there’s clarity in that world, as well as being surer of what I’m trying to say and being comfortable with what I’m trying to communicate and how I share it.”
“I think it’s something that I was actively looking for, for the first time, in my personal and professional life.”
The result – a distinctly coherent and concise songbook of eleven tracks. These can be attributed to the collaborative nature of the writing and recording, as well as Maine’s willingness to absorb ideas and input from those around him.
Ricky Music features the first co-production effort by Porches with Unknown Mortal Orchestra bassist, Jacob Portrait, along with guest collaborations from long-time friends like Mitski, who features on the track ‘Madonna’.
“I’ve known Mitski for years and I do enjoy working with people and hearing other people’s voices specifically on my album – I think it’s such a breath of fresh air,” explains Maine.
“She was in town the week that I was in the studio recording and we laid down heaps of ideas and tracks and that’s the one we decided on.”
Collaboration for Maine is more about personal connection than a solely musical one, preferring to enlist friends he’s made through various avenues.
“I like the idea of bringing in people that I encounter and spend my time with to appear on the album, and make it feel like the picture is even bigger.”
Ricky Music is out Friday March 13 through Domino Records.
