Say Hello To A New Sound

Aloha aggressively moves forward on new record.

By: Matt Conner

If you’re a long-time fan, you saw this coming a mile away. However, if you’ve been away for a bit, there’s a surprise in store. That’s because the up-tempo aggression found on Aloha’s new release Home Acres seems light years from the initial soft shell of balladry the band emerged from on 2000’s That’s Your Fire. The organic metamorphosis makes sense for those up close, but it’s a different story on the outside, even as recently as one album ago.

That’s because their last album, Light Works, brought exactly that — a mostly delicate, slender affair with pop structures that evoked early spring or late fall. Home Acres instead summons the listeners attention front and center, the direct opposite (Aloha-style) of its sibling. What’s most surprising is that the songs on both discs came from the same writing sessions and were only divided at the very end.

“There was a pretty fruitful time of writing music with me mainly writing guitar music in my studio,” says Tony Cavallario, principal songwriter and vocalist for Aloha. “When I looked at what we had — and there were about 25 songs, mostly sketches — I noticed that many of the songs were more of a lightweight, acoustic sort of realm. Then another group of them were a little more sturdy, more rock and roll. Instead of making an album of both, I wanted to separate them from each other as much as possible. So that’s why we did the Light Works album. We just wanted to clear those lighter songs off of the queue and then focus on making a more concrete, more guitar-based album for Home Acres.”

The Polyvinyl quartet initially envisioned the entire collection of songs as a dual release of sorts, with the heavier sound of Home Acres coming right on the heels of Light Works. Instead, plans were changed or scrapped, forcing the band to wait longer than expected. Thus, Cavallario admits fans might have lost out on that intended perspective. Then again, he reserves the right to experiment from time to time.

“Some people might think that it’s an anomaly, but I think it’s a logical progression for a band to move like we did. I can’t think of any band — any substantial band — that hasn’t gone through a phase where they did something that was specifically meant to evoke a certain sound. So it might seem off of the trajectory for the band, but I think it’s a normal thing to do. Even Alice in Chains did that.”

“Our original plan was to do Light Works and then say, ‘Oh, that was nice’ and then put out another record,” he continues. “But this record’s actually taken longer than we planned. So it does seem like what you mention. I think if Home Acres would have come out a year ago, people would not have put so much thought into where Light Works fit into the chronology of Aloha.”

Although Cavallario doesn’t let on to any frustration, he believes the last album was glossed over by those confused by the album’s direction — something he hopes to avoid this time around.

“Honestly, I think it was skipped over by a lot of people,” says Cavallario. “There were definitely some people that I’ve been close to for a long time and are long-time fans of the band who actually prefer it. They like the cleaner sound of it. They like the less aggressive sound of Aloha. But like I said, we set out to do something very specific and I think we did exactly what we wanted to do, so what people think really doesn’t matter to me.”

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