A Walk Around Cherry Town with Agaaze - Grant Hiskes
By Grant Hiskes
Only months after graduating from the University of Michigan, Rochester-based Agaaze is already set to release his third studio album Cherry Town. I had the pleasure of meeting Agaaze last year through a mutual friend and have thoroughly enjoyed following these early stages of his journey. Just last week, the two of us were able to sit down again and talk through his latest project.
Trained as a classical musician and the son of a jazz drummer, Agaaze credits his upbringing with establishing the foundation he has used to create the nuanced sounds that can be heard on his first two albums A Portal Inside and For You and then taking that to a whole new dimension with Cherry Town. For those of you who have not yet heard Agaaze’s music, he blends the vibrant and pulsating soundscapes of electro pop with ‘70s psychedelia and is open about the influences of artists like Tame Impala and Pink Floyd. Through my listening, I can hear some of these influences in songs like FreezeFall.
Aside from the electronic sounds of Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala, Agaaze also admires the individuality of the Australian multi-instrumentalist. Agaaze acknowledges that generally compromise is a good thing for humanity. However, when it comes to his music, compromise is not something Agaaze is so willing to cede. (However, Agaaze did make a concerted effort to praise his Master Engineer, Adam “Yukon” Harr, a Grammy-winner who has worked with the likes of Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, and Pharrell just to name a few). The production quality is one of the most standout features of Agaaze’s music. More impressively, Agaaze produced the whole album himself.
I asked Agaaze what part of his creative process he feels may be inhibited in collaboration. In my time working with him, I have seen first-hand how hands-on and proactive he is in communicating with his press outlets, old and new. So, his style is not surprising to me. “For me, when I am making music, it’s like I am writing my music in a diary, so I don’t want to feel like I have to hold anything back when I am doing that”.
Agaaze’s comment on making music equating to a diary really stuck out to me as that follows suit with the opening track of his newest album, “Dear Mildred” - addressed as if he is, in fact, writing a diary entry. When Agaaze first shared his upcoming album with me, I told him right after my first time through it that “Dear Mildred” and “Run Free” were my favorite tracks. Of course, I was curious as to who Mildred was. Agaaze was mum on the matter when I asked him about it, but he did convey the importance “Mildred” had in his life. This was the only track he had ever written in the moment with the song’s subject in the room, and the only time he has ever written a song with anyone in the room period, a testament to his muse. Well, the first half of the track at least. The second half of the track is something he tells me he workshopped for weeks and weeks, feeling that he, one, needed a drop for the track knowing he wanted to lead with it and, two, make it sound just right. Despite being the opener, “Dear Mildred” was the last track written for the Cherry Town album.
After the opening track, Agaaze experiments with a wide array of tunes and lyrical communication, almost rapping on track three “‘Round the Bend”. We have mentioned the influence of Kevin Parker/Tame Impala on Agaaze’s music, which is evident throughout the first half of the album, and I was reminded of the sounds of Mac Demarco and Daft Punk as well. When I asked Agaaze about Mac Demarco, he idealized the Canadian artist as being “nonchalant and true to who you are”. That idea of inspiring his listeners to be true to who they are is what Agaaze expressed to me at the end of our conversation as what he wants Cherry Town listeners to take away. When it comes to that form of expression, he leads by example by mixing a variety of instrumentals, lyrical delivery, and drops that cannot be defined by just one genre. If I mentioned Mac Demarco and Daft Punk in the same sentence, I am sure you can see how the sound is unique. Agaaze praised Daft Punk as “electronic pioneers” incorporating both pop and classical influences.
The crux of the album comes in track eight, “Token Clown”. Discussing the British virtual band Gorillaz, Agaaze expressed his admiration for the band as being one of the first to really build a world for their music that really came to fruition. The four “members” are presented as cartoons in music videos and interviews. Agaaze says creating a world like this is what every artist seeks to do with an album, and the “Token Clown” is the main character of the Cherry Town domain. Released as a lead single, the reputation of the Token Clown in Agaaze’s words is “the truest version of you that you are almost scared to embrace because you’ll feel like a clown”. Toeing that line captures the essence of the track that is almost satirical in nature, an upbeat melody with lyrics that may not insinuate the same.
The second half of the album then takes a different side of Agaaze’s music. There are lower sounds, and calmer beats, and the tracks all in all are pensive. Cherry Town wraps up with many instances of Agaaze slowing down his lyrical delivery to the point he is talking over the music pondering aloud all that he is seeing, feeling, and thinking.
The end of this album is the perfect end to the genre-bending adventure that Agaaze takes us through in Cherry Town, a sound you really cannot even begin to describe until you hear it for yourself. Fortunately for you dear reader, the mystique need not go on much longer. Listen to Cherry Town here and Agaaze’s other music on Apple Music and Spotify.
Follow Agaaze on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/agaaze/
And learn more about Agaaze on his website: https://www.agaaze.com/
