Aficionado

Remember how I talked about the band Eric Margan used to be in. Well, here is Aficionado. All 9 or 10 of them. When Eric was in the band, they only had five members. The band has grown, and in more ways than one.

The band always has been full of  performers since it’s inception. The core 5 members who have been part of the band are big personalities unto their own, at least in Albany, always partying like rock stars no matter what. The new members seem to provide a slightly calmer ying to the chaotic yang of the original members.

While the band does care a lot about the music, it’s no question they are entertainers, so they plan on putting on a good show.  For example, band member Face’s sole role is to do lighting (or for the day-time performance at last year’s LarkFest: balloon thrower and confetti shooter). So it’s no surprise that lead singer Nick cites the Polyphonic Spree and similar bands for the type of atmosphere he wants to create.

Let’s not forget the bus. (R.I.P.)

Beyond their showmanship, Aficinado never can be completely contained into one genre. Not just regular rock, but not quite progressive rock, at least not in the vein of Pink Floyd.

Let’s start from where I came into starting to like their music: the now rare One Unfortunate Event After Another  E.P. It opens up with the frantic and circus-like “Preservation,” which gives the listener the hint that band wants to strike a balance between a chorus that the audience can sing along to with experimenting with a breakdown and solos inbetween. “Flood of Rats” is a similarly serpentine song, with what could be considered a dance break followed by a guitar solo. (In my opinion, ”Flood of Rats” needs to be ressurected by the band.)

“Search for Shelter” sees the band go slightly slower, a rock dirge. “Denial” at first seems to bring the band back to a similar speed but slowly weaves in and out of prog-rock territory, eventually hitting a sublime dream-like section with acoustic guitar with the song propelling the listener back to the chorus at the end of the song. Last and longest “God Willing” the most proggier song, bringing hints of Eastern-European influences.

After putting out this E.P., Nick and the other members saw that maybe the show could be bigger, with more instrumentation. To see what’s been added one just needs to look at the line up of the band:

Nicholas Warchol – Vocals
August Rosa – Guitar/Vocals
James Kehoe – Guitar/Vocals
Dustin Warner – Bass/Vocals
Mark O’Brien – Drums
Marissa Wendolovske – Flute
Laura Carozza – Flute/Vocals
Craig Von Dutra III – Trumpet/Keys
Christopher Tenerowicz – Trumpet/Mandolin
Face – Lightshow

Flutes, trumpets and mandolins: the band wanted to add more flourishes and complexities to the music while still being as loud as then can, and has been successful. The band has moved on from being a rock band not afraid to experiment to well– something else.

With the new members comes the bands first album, Circus Music. (See, I used ‘circus-like’ earlier for a reason.) From the opening ”March of Welcome” to the end with “Triumphant,” listeners are welcomed

To the circus of my mind…
to the circus we come to call our family…

If One Unfortunate Even After Another is a general collection of songs about the malaise of living in Albany, Circus Musicis a concept album, whose basic conceit is the circus of the mind, confronting demons in each song, songs more about personal relationships from the speakers perspective and how dehumanizing it can feel to live in the world today.

After the welcome, you’re thrown head long into “Magnified,” a great example of Nick upping his showmanship vocally (on stage he’ll usually do a Captain Morgan-esque pose when he hits the chorus), and would be a potential single. It also shows what this half-marching band/half-prog rock band can do. August and James and Marissa and Laura get their time to shine. This song and the following song “The Cellar” also take great advantage of the sheer size of the band with their choruses.

“Said the Elephant to the Snake” is actually a song from way back from 2006 updated for the new band’s sound. A good rock song then, is actually still pretty similar, but why mess with something good? “Search for Shelter” also returns from the previous E.P. Then is “Deaf Ears,” another potential single that gives new flutists another chance to shine with it’s vaguely Middle-Eastern influence.

There’s an intermission that seems to take place in old time bar-like atmosphere complete with drinking song. Since I’m listening to this track-by-track I’m going to take the time during the intermission to discuss the lyrics.  The lyrics are not going to give you any great epiphanies, but the metaphors are still clever and more importantly accessible. For example, it’s not heard to guess what “Magnified,” “Deaf Ears” and “More Like A Machine” are about, but very easy to agree with it’s sentiments. It’s  another balance the Aficionado does well.

And now the album leads into “Breathing Fire” which features an interesting call and response between flute and drum/trumpets for segment and a short slap-bass solo. Following that is the equally great song “More Like a Machine,” one of the more straight-forward songs that starts to sink the album into darker waters. “For Those Who Fear Death” moves the meditations on being alive to what it’s like to be dead.

“Desolate Times” artfully explains the obvious: “These are desolate times.” It seems we have gotten deep enough to move past the circus of the mind, metaphorical life and death, and to the meat of what most songs are about: relationships with other people and the world.

With this we come back to ‘life’ with the updated “Preservation.” At first I missed the rockier version of this, but I have come to appreciate the flourishes of flute and mandolin only add to the song. “All the Wrong the Places” sees the speaker confront his own destructive nature for final time on the album. He emerges “Triumphant.”

Circus Music is an apt title for a spectacular album, however you need to go to a show because the songs are not complete with out the visual aspect of the band. One hopes to see Aficionado grow bigger and gain a bigger fan base, because it’s not hard to imagine Nick getting the audience to sing along with the bah da da’s of “Triumphant” as they close out a set. But that’s not assuming that Aficionado isn’t big already.

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Aficionado
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