We Don’t Have Each Other By Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties

New York – In his new project, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, Dan “Soupy” Campbell has successfully created an artistic alter ego in order to get down to the meaning of “self.” His debut album, We Don’t Have Each Other, is a lyrical journey through the fraying life of Aaron West. To extrapolate on and explain his narrator, Campbell launches into a hyper-descriptive journey down the American Eastern coast with Aaron at the wheel.

With astoundingly telling imagery, Campbell starts in Brooklyn. The album opener “Our Apartment” introduces us to the past life of Aaron West. The lyrics catch listeners up on everything they have missed, like Aaron’s wife and other details of how “it’s always been.” In the beginning, the track sounds like your standard post-break-up song, but Campbell excellently eases the narrative into a deeper discussion of relationships. He makes this fictional couple’s apartment not only real, but also relatable.

In the next track, “Grapefruit”, Campbell alludes to what drove him and his wife apart. We visit Aaron’s parent’s house in “St. Joe Keep Us Safe”, where “daddy’s old car” is taken for an impromptu road trip. The lyrics are filled with sorrow, guilt and Catholic imagery as Campbell delves into the inner depths of the increasingly troubled Aaron West. From there we travel down the coast, as Aaron tries to simultaneously run from and recover his marriage. Campbell unpacks Aaron’s psyche through meditations on his dead father and destructive tendencies. Much in the vein of other break-up albums, We Don’t Have Each Other’s lyrics use the tropes and themes of cold coffee and quitting cigarettes to underline inner turmoil. However, Campbell then moves toward discussing tragedy when it’s revealed that Aaron and his wife lost a baby – a moving twist that illustrates Campbell’s skill as a lyricist.

Sonically, the album strays far away from the power chords and distortion we’re used to hearing from Campbell and The Wonder Years. The album’s sound is built by banjos and slide guitar, giving it a distinctly country feel, although modified with upbeat and electronic songs. The pace rarely picks up beyond a steady strum, allowing Campbell’s lyrics to take center stage. “Divorce and the American South” is a track that illustrates this well; it features acoustic and slide guitar, but is anchored by Campbell’s voice with barely any accompaniment. “Runnin’ Scared”, the album’s loudest track, is a spike in activity compared to soulful, persistent guitar of “Divorce and the American South” or the album’s ending track “Carolina Coast.” Although this simplicity in sound makes for a consistent album, it also detracts from the record’s potential. A greater variety in sound, if not in tempo, may have allowed for a more well-rounded album.

What the album lacks in musical diversity, however, it makes up for in narrative. The story is compelling in its specificity, while feeling somehow relatable- and this is the album’s strength. Campbell proved himself as a lyricist during his time as frontman of The Wonder Years and he tells Aaron West’s story just as potently as he told his own in past projects. With Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, however, Campbell has demonstrated that he is capable of leaving his comfort zone, delving into and developing a project with just as much purpose. His execution proves he’s a natural. If We Don’t Have Each Other is the first chapter in Aaron West’s story, then it’s beyond exciting to see where things go next.

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Zoe Marquedant

Zoe Marquedant is a Marylander now living in Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she majored in Journalism and English literature. She is a freelance journalist, who primarily writes on music and culture. Her work can be seen in Boston Magazine, Highlight Magazine as well as on rsvlts.com, mxdwn.com and Baeblemusic.com. When not writing, Zoe is probably working her way through a new series on Netflix, researching new pie recipes and collecting dumb jokes (e.g. Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns. I’ll drive.") Follow her vain attempts at mastering social media at @zoenoumlaut