5/20/25 ADDS
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ABOUT
SAMUEL AARON
Rambler(S/r)
Add date: 6.10.2025
Release date: 5.30.2025
Links:
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Instagram
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
TikTok
YouTube
Samuel Aaron has no interest in appearing nonchalant. The Chicago-based, Portland-born artist has a refreshingly earnest approach to making music, weaving together insightful lyricism, colorful arranging, and soulful vocal performances. While Aaron’s songwriting is rooted in the folk lineage, his affinity for eclectic soundscapes and his taste for a wide array of genres–including art-pop, R&B, and more–reverberate through his music. In the vein of artists like Big Thief, Bon Iver, and Andy Shauf, Aaron’s brand of alternative folk is brimming with substance but never in lieu of style. The through-line of Aaron’s music isn’t genre or mood; it’s his approach to telling stories. Aaron’s versatility as a vocalist, lyricist, producer, and instrumentalist manifests in his music’s innate sense of world-building; this rings clearly on Aaron’s debut album, Rambler, in which he traverses the landscapes of his making, through boisterous rock songs, theatrical chamber-pop orchestrations, and stripped-down guitar ballads. The result is his most daring project to date.
Upon hearing his debut album, Rambler, listeners of Aaron’s early material may be surprised at the development in style since his last solo project, 2022’s Versions of Love Songs EP. The fact is that Rambler is not a stylistic departure for Aaron, but an arrival. While moments from his prior work tease the form Aaron’s storytelling would come to embody on Rambler, Aaron now sheds his lo-fi bedroom-pop aesthetic and steps into a more robust alternative-folk sound. This transition marks the delivery of his most orchestrated, realized, and emotionally resonant project to date.
Rambler starts out in familiar territory on the opening track, “Wichita,” with a muffled iPhone voice memo and gentle acoustic finger-picking, which gradually unfolds into a lush concoction of harmonies, horns, and strings. The trajectory of the opening track hints at what’s to come: a collection of songs that expands the scope of Aaron’s storytelling with each song. Rather than sticking closely to one sonic palette, Aaron maneuvers between different styles with ease–from the bluesy, theatrical orchestrations on “Feed Me With Your Hands,” to the eclectic alternative-folk tunes “Mosier” and “D.B Cooper.”
The album’s title, Rambler, hints at an artist who is self-aware of his indulgences and chooses to own them instead of hide from them. His songs are earnest and personal, yet within them is an unmistakable universality, a steady attempt at unveiling some core truth of young adulthood. In the song “Aphasia,” Aaron sings, “You’re like a song gone unsung… a little secret that I knew when I was young”– a poignant lament for the gradual slipping away of a loved one.
While Rambler is a testament to Aaron’s talents as a lyricist, producer, and vocalist, his most understated yet crucial skill is his masterful choice of collaborators. Aaron and co-producer Wesley Reno seamlessly integrate contributions from a large cast of characters across each track of the album. Features like Ehmed Nauman’s guitar solo on the pop-country-inspired “Lookin’ at You” or recurring contributions like Ultra-Violet Archer’s velvety background vocals and Chris “Murph” Rohner’s inventive pedal steel playing throughout the record lend the stories of Rambler a stand-out ensemble cast.
Rambler is not a concept album or a linear narrative; it is something more sincere. It’s an ode to the human experience, told in the language of journal entries, conversations, nightmares, and daydreams. It is the musings of a hyperactive mind and a statement of intent from its creator: I am here, and this is just the beginning.
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Official Website
Spotify
Tidal
TikTok
YouTube
Samuel Aaron has no interest in appearing nonchalant. The Chicago-based, Portland-born artist has a refreshingly earnest approach to making music, weaving together insightful lyricism, colorful arranging, and soulful vocal performances. While Aaron’s songwriting is rooted in the folk lineage, his affinity for eclectic soundscapes and his taste for a wide array of genres–including art-pop, R&B, and more–reverberate through his music. In the vein of artists like Big Thief, Bon Iver, and Andy Shauf, Aaron’s brand of alternative folk is brimming with substance but never in lieu of style. The through-line of Aaron’s music isn’t genre or mood; it’s his approach to telling stories. Aaron’s versatility as a vocalist, lyricist, producer, and instrumentalist manifests in his music’s innate sense of world-building; this rings clearly on Aaron’s debut album, Rambler, in which he traverses the landscapes of his making, through boisterous rock songs, theatrical chamber-pop orchestrations, and stripped-down guitar ballads. The result is his most daring project to date.
Upon hearing his debut album, Rambler, listeners of Aaron’s early material may be surprised at the development in style since his last solo project, 2022’s Versions of Love Songs EP. The fact is that Rambler is not a stylistic departure for Aaron, but an arrival. While moments from his prior work tease the form Aaron’s storytelling would come to embody on Rambler, Aaron now sheds his lo-fi bedroom-pop aesthetic and steps into a more robust alternative-folk sound. This transition marks the delivery of his most orchestrated, realized, and emotionally resonant project to date.
Rambler starts out in familiar territory on the opening track, “Wichita,” with a muffled iPhone voice memo and gentle acoustic finger-picking, which gradually unfolds into a lush concoction of harmonies, horns, and strings. The trajectory of the opening track hints at what’s to come: a collection of songs that expands the scope of Aaron’s storytelling with each song. Rather than sticking closely to one sonic palette, Aaron maneuvers between different styles with ease–from the bluesy, theatrical orchestrations on “Feed Me With Your Hands,” to the eclectic alternative-folk tunes “Mosier” and “D.B Cooper.”
The album’s title, Rambler, hints at an artist who is self-aware of his indulgences and chooses to own them instead of hide from them. His songs are earnest and personal, yet within them is an unmistakable universality, a steady attempt at unveiling some core truth of young adulthood. In the song “Aphasia,” Aaron sings, “You’re like a song gone unsung… a little secret that I knew when I was young”– a poignant lament for the gradual slipping away of a loved one.
While Rambler is a testament to Aaron’s talents as a lyricist, producer, and vocalist, his most understated yet crucial skill is his masterful choice of collaborators. Aaron and co-producer Wesley Reno seamlessly integrate contributions from a large cast of characters across each track of the album. Features like Ehmed Nauman’s guitar solo on the pop-country-inspired “Lookin’ at You” or recurring contributions like Ultra-Violet Archer’s velvety background vocals and Chris “Murph” Rohner’s inventive pedal steel playing throughout the record lend the stories of Rambler a stand-out ensemble cast.
Rambler is not a concept album or a linear narrative; it is something more sincere. It’s an ode to the human experience, told in the language of journal entries, conversations, nightmares, and daydreams. It is the musings of a hyperactive mind and a statement of intent from its creator: I am here, and this is just the beginning.