Milwaukee, Wisconsin Oct 6, 2024 (Issuewire.com) - ZIG Releases full-length album, “Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space”
ZIG
BIG BRAINED APES ON A ROCK IN SPACE
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1. Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space (3:41)
2. Quiet My Soul (2:37)
3. Been Played The Fool (2:41)
4. Send For Me (3:56)
5. Grow With Me (2:45)
6. Give Me Your Room, Give Me Tonight (4:05)
7. Going Over Jordan In A Cadillac (2:29)
8. Why We Gonna Wait All Night? (4:17)
9. Can’t Push A River (3:11)
10. Walking In The Light (3:34)
11. Acoustic Apes (3:31)
Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space is Zig’s most inventive and complete work to date and is the culmination of his lived experience, confidence as a producer, and realization of his artistic voice. Years of recording, experimenting, failing and growing have led to this moment for Zig. Ultimately, he says, “My hope is that the refuge and lightness these songs provided me can go forward with the listener and the album can, in some small way, give them a moment of freedom.”
Zig is a Milwaukee based singer-songwriter/producer. After 5 turbulent personal years, 2024 brings a new album and new era with a refreshed presence under his lifelong nickname. His long sought return to Milwaukee represents an individual and artistic renaissance.
Zig developed his craft during 15 years in the competitive Seattle music scene with success as Give It To Me Rusty, Weightless, part of the DIY venue The Ballard Mine, Bushwick Book Club, and performing under the moniker Aaron Zig.
In 2019, feeling financially pushed from their Seattle base of 19 years, Zig moved to Vermont, to be close to family after starting his own. Mere months later the pandemic emerged. In an evaporated housing market with a young child, under lockdown and knowing few, his family was unable to plant roots. Next, seeking multi-generational living, his family moved to Connecticut with his mother, a close companion in his life, who joined from Wisconsin. This again was not meant to be, as Zig’s mother passed away only months after they moved in together, following a precipitous and unforeseen illness.
Heartbroken and adrift, needing a place not connected with loss, a new path emerged; a return to Zig’s hometown of Milwaukee. In contrast to their previous ventures, this time, things fell into place. Amongst friends, family, and familiarity, he and his family found home in his new/old hometown.
During the personal chaos of 2023 music was an essential refuge for Zig. Working in his home studio, he wrote, recorded and produced Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space. Playing guitar, singing lead and harmony vocals, and adding keyboard layers, he was able to bring in musicians to contribute drums, piano, stand up bass and female backing vocals to flesh out his vision.
Surprisingly, this is not an album centered on loss. It does confront big themes of death, the ephemeral nature of life, love and companionship, but approaches these subjects with a light heart, sly humor, and an embrace of the absurdity of life. Upon reflection, Zig says, “The experiences of the past few years didn’t harden my heart. Painfully, they opened me to how fragile life is. Do you want to enjoy these days as best you can, or do you want to forever swim upriver? I was tired of the fight and was ready to enjoy what is, as it is.”
The musical palette of BBAOARIS is wide in scope, making for a satisfying album full of unexpected turns, yet centered by Zig’s vocals and lyrics. The title track concludes it plainly, “We are free.” Maybe in another context this could be an easy, throwaway line, but Zig sees it with a Buddhist attitude. “Are we the reason the universe existed? That idea’s always given me a little resistance. That’s way too much pressure for some big brained apes on a rock in space,” says the title track.
Unconventionally, the final track is an acoustic version of the opening track, sandwiching the album. In the acoustic version the line changes to “Being big brained apes on a rock in space sounds pretty great to me.” This life is magic enough, we don’t need to overlay any other story than what we see and experience.
“Quiet My Soul” is a Sly influenced soul groove driven by an undeniable bass line set against bright organ jabs, reminding, “don’t get too high, don’t get too low.” “Been Played The Fool” is a conga charged Latin groove with dark, twisting guitars. “Why We Gonna Wait All Night?” is a fascinating Beck-like story song about Davey, a dancer whose improv dancing on a street in Paris catches the eye of a woman in a cafe. The liaison ends with him in a cast, but happy as ever. The debauchery and lyrics in French are a wink and nod to Serge Gainsbourg.
Other highlights include “Going Over Jordan In A Cadillac”, a fingerpicked blues number with Elvis inflected gospel harmonies. Living abroad in Ghana for a year, Zig was able to see first hand the custom coffin makers famed for their inventive creations. This seemed an apt metaphor for living with style and going out with a bang.
“Can’t Push A River” recasts a middle-aged man who looks in the mirror. Instead of seeing his receding hairline he sees the “fire in my head, the fire in my heart, I ain’t leaving this party before the party starts”. He turns his daily grind into a 007 game of survival. Instead of pushing the river, he gets on for the ride.
“Grow With Me” is a raw, one take affair, capturing the small moments that make up a life. “Send For Me” is a slow burn, building to a crescendo that ends with a hanging question suspended, “When your day is done, and your time has come, whose gonna hold you in their arms?”. The last of the mid-album trio of love songs, “Give Me Your Room, Give Me Tonight” is a simple reminder of the renewal of romance that slows down time.
“Walking In The Light” is a tribute to Zig’s late mother, a leader in Wisconsin women’s rights and champion of those in need that has a jaunty and fitting country-gospel Perkins and Cash vibe.
In the vein of Paul Simon, Father John Misty and Willie Nelson, the new record is a common man’s philosophical and existential journey through modern life and and age old questions. It’s also a fun, unique musical ride that works as a whole album and invites the listener to revisit its rich lyrical and musical landscape over and over again.
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