The jazz-trained LA musician Andrew Aged is half of the duo inc. no world with his brother Daniel. He has toured with artists like Raphael Saadiq and FKA twigs, and he has done session work on records from people like Lorde and Blood Orange. Right now, Aged plays guitar in his friend Mk.gee’s live band. Today, Aged releases Crown, a very cool new solo EP that he made with some close associates.
Lately, a whole lot of people have been lovingly deconstructing the pop records that they must’ve heard as kids, and Aged’s Crown EP is only the latest example. Its three tracks all sound a bit like the thrumming lullabies that got adult-contempo play in the ’80s and ’90s, if they were taken apart and put back together by a young producer with an oblique, minimalist sensibility. They’re beautiful, and they slide in right alongside the recent work of Aged friends like Mk.gee. Perhaps not coincidentally, Mk.gee helped out on one of its three tracks.
Crown opens with “Banner,” a song that Andrew Aged co-wrote and co-produced with Mk.gee. It sure sounds like Mk.gee’s guitar is all over that one, too. Aged co-wrote and co-produced the other two songs with Tinashe/Vince Staples collaborator Zack Sekoff and with Nightfeelings, a producer who is one half of Teengirl Fantasy and who has worked with people like Kelela, Steve Lacy, and Kim Petras. It’s fun to think about all these relentlessly creative people just hanging out in LA, working on big records, and coming up with these extremely cool pop experiments in their own time. Listen to all three Crown tracks below.
The Crown EP is out now on Two First Names Recordings.
