About two years ago, I was introduced to a band called "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties." I didn't understand the concept at first or what "Aaron" was about, but since then I've fallen in love with the music and the incredible story.
"We Don't Have Each Other"
Aaron's first album entitled "We Don't Have Each Other" starts with the song "Our Apartment." The listener is introduced to Aaron's life in Manhattan and marriage with his wife, Diane, which unfortunately is ending in divorce. The couple was planning on having a baby, but Diana miscarried. She ended up divorcing Aaron because their relationship fell apart after the miscarriage; he shut down and was not there for her when she needed him.
The album brings the listener through the story of not only their relationship, but Aaron's relationship with his deceased father. Aaron starts traveling the country, going to see his mother and subconsciously trying to find Diana, who has left him without a trace.
In the song "Divorce and the American South," Aaron attempts to call Diane but leaves her a voicemail of how much he misses her. He tells her that he's in the South, calling her from a payphone, quitting cigarettes and regretting all the mistakes he made in their relationship. The song ends with an illustration of a dream Aaron had of dying in a plane crash and Diane not coming to the funeral.
When Aaron gets to his mother's house, he reflects on his mother's strong Christian faith, and wonders why God hasn't helped him. She knows something is wrong because he never goes to visit her. She gives him his dad's old Mustang and tells him to go.
He ends up at the coast of one of the Carolinas, reminiscing on his relationship with Diana and his dad. He pulls out lilies that he was saving for Diana when trying to find his cigarettes, forgetting that he stopped smoking weeks ago because she hated it. The listener can feel the love and adoration he has for both of these important people in his life, and his despair over losing them.
The last song of the album, "Going to Georgia" is one that is hard to interpret. The first time I listened to it, I thought it was a suicide note, because he states "you smile as you ease the gun from my hand, and I'm frozen with joy right where I stand." But, after listening to the second album/EP, I have come to the idea that the song is a vision that Aaron has that he is about to kill himself in Georgia and Diane comes to save him in the middle of nowhere.
"Bittersweet"
The second album introduces the same payphone he was in in "Divorce in the American South." He's calling his mom to ask what year his dad's Mustang is as he plans to sell it and buy a bus ticket back to Manhattan. He reflects on his dad especially at the beginning of this EP, talking about how emotional it is for him to part with the Mustang, and symbolically his father.
In the second song of the EP, "Goodbye Carolina Blues," Aaron makes his way back to Manhattan to their apartment, only to find that Diane is no longer there. A college student is now subletting their apartment, and says to Aaron "No, Diane, she don't live here anymore."
Aaron looks around the apartment and finds his jacket on the floor of the closet, a symbol of their relationship that has been cast away. He leaves the apartment, barely recognizing it anymore as all the furniture has changed.
He walks around Manhattan and sees all the places he used to go and the city that he loves, reflecting on their relationship and the new change in his life that is starting.
In the last line, he compares their memories to the couch that used to be in their apartment with an incredibly heartbreaking metaphor, "I try to picture it - just the top of the skyline at low tide, piercing the surface as the ships try to navigate their lanes, and there alone and triumphant on the crest of a wave is the couch you gave away."
For now, this is where Aaron's story ends.
I've had the pleasure of seeing the band twice live. The second time was my favorite experience because he played through both records and told the story of his love for Diane and his journey to find her. At this show, I learned the most important lesson I probably ever will learn in my life; someone had told "Aaron" at another show that his wife sounded like an awful person because she no longer loved him. To which he said, "She is allowed to love anyone. She only gets one life, just as the rest of us do, and she can spend it loving whoever she chooses to. My purpose here is to show my love for her, but in no way does she have to love me."
His whole album speaks this gospel truth. We are meant to love others, and we can choose who we love. They in no means have to love us back, but we are meant to cross oceans for people and give love in this too often dim world. Do not be afraid to love unconditionally and wholeheartedly, even if it is not given in return.
