Aaron Rice is an American singer, songwriter and producer based in Minneapolis. He makes vocally-driven electronic music with influences as diverse as his ancestry. His career began with dichotomy, his fifth grade garage band covering Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, while at home he sang along to Jodeci, TLC and 2Pac. Growing up in a multiracial family this contrast remained a major theme, and music became the only real way Rice was able to navigate his identity, in all its forms. Over the years he’s been a part of many projects, one even earning him success in an official up-and-comer slot at Iceland Airwaves, but it’s as a solo artist that Aaron Rice finds his truest voice to date.
Rice wrote and recorded his first solo endeavor, Neverfade/For Dusk (out 5/10) while living in Los Angeles, and produced and mixed the tracks in Minneapolis and Brooklyn. Credits on the recordings include experimental ambient composer Grant Cutler who mixed the album, and SHIELDS who contributed to production. All music videos for the LP were directed by Rice’s long-time creative partner Alex Brown, who also co-wrote three of the tracks on the album. Performing material from the debut Rice has shared stages with Gold Panda, Honne, Open Mike Eagle, Crystal Castles, Nightmares on Wax and Baynk.
Neverfade/For Dusk is both dark and ethereal. While inspired by movement, at the heart of the album lies a space and stillness. Neverfade/For Dusk creates a place for the mind to find solace when body and emotions are resigned to fatigue. You lay on the floor, the walls saturated in color, light moving over and through your skin, the sun just setting.
Glide is thrilled to premiere the official “Tru Life” *below) video from Aaron Rice, a riveting collage of vocals and beats that reflect the ingenuity of Jamie XX, James Blake and Crystal Castles. Rice offers a novel approach to electronic DIY indie that spurs danceability and a poignant coolness factor.
“Tru Life” takes place in a strange period of time just after losing someone,” says Rice. “I started living out these fantasies of what life could be like, but in the quiet, unintended moments of reflection beneath all the noise I only felt a profound absence. In my heart of hearts I knew it was too late. I see the video as a representation of these feelings of disorientation; when the horizon is off balance and you can’t see where you’re headed.”
