Aaron Skiles Delivers A Bright Rock Single
One of my favorite things about the new track from Aaron Skiles is the fact that he's able to blend this almost vintage punk rock tonality with a grungy overtone that comes together seamlessly and creates something warm but also edgy at the same time.
"Ain't No Marks" doesn't waste any time coming right in with bursting and boisterous guitars, layered and thick, bringing on a righteous and bright feel, reminiscent of pop rock, but with a bigger sonic drive, if you ask me.
The vocals also lean a little bit towards this sort of punk rock feel, layered with an echo effect which gives a little bit more wetness and depth, and a colorful set of melodies that feel good when you listen to them.
This whole thing comes across like a classic rock track but heavier. The guitars have great distortion to them, and they are layered perfectly, at times both performing the same chord progression but, other times you have one doing the chords and another one with an overlaying cookie kind of track which helps it lean towards a bit of a 90s rock feel as well.
Listening to this track, you can absolutely hear that huge amount of influences in rock that come across.
The drumming is definitely the main drive of the track and does a great job of setting up that widespread kind of groove, helping the grungy feel with the classic '90s grunge drumbeat, but there are also some great fills, and the drumming overall brings an amazing liveliness to this track.
During certain sections of the song, including the pre-chorus, there are organs that come in and sort of fill the space, which really makes the song more robust and gives it extra textures to soak in and chew on.
It's a very full-bodied song, and you can tell there was a lot of attention paid to the arrangement.
I think I was very satisfied hearing the guitar solo as well. I absolutely miss good guitar solos in rock music in general. For some reason, you don't hear as many of them as you used to, but Aaron really performed this great solo that has soul. It's got wide bends and a really fun attitude, bringing up that colorful brightness I mentioned earlier.
After the solo comes in, it extends a little bit, playing super high notes that are sort of melodically harmonizing with the vocals, and you get this almost Weezer kind of effect.
The track ends with classic punk rock vocals singing melodies without words, but instead in "woahs", which is awesome as well, because, again, this gives you a very thriving and driving punk rock effect because that's considered like a crew vocal thing. Very common in all eras of punk rock, and used here in a sense of anthemic empowerment.
I definitely love how the song makes you feel. It's almost uplifting, with these major tones and melodies that come across heavy-handed and powerful.
This was an awesome track that definitely showcased someone who puts a lot of work into the performance.
Of the songs he himself performs, but either way, he knows how to write them, and he knows how to lay it down on record as if you're watching a live performance.
That's the kind of thing that makes the song last and stand out.
As far as I can tell, this track is a bit of a hint towards an upcoming release that should be more of a full album or EP coming this August.
I seriously cannot wait for that, especially if it's got more of this really closed fisted, hands in the air, sing-along kind of heavy rock.
For now, this song will keep me at bay.
Check this track out, turn it up, and look out for the full album coming up in a few months.
Ain't No Marks - Single by Aaron Skiles | Spotify
