REVIEW: Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties – ‘We Don’t Have Each Other’

Artist: Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties
Album: We Don’t Have Each Other
Label: Hopeless Records

If nothing else can be taken away from Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties‘ debut record, then at least take away this: even in the most fictitious stories there can be subtle truths about struggle in life. Everyone goes through trials, tests, tribulations and people far wiser than myself will tell you it’s how you face these situations that helps mold and shape who you are and what you can become.

This is what We Don’t Have Each Other is about. It’s about digging down into yourself during the most difficult situations and realizing what needs to come out of what is given to you.

Composed and created from The Wonder Years frontman Dan “Soupy” Campbell with the help of friends such as Ace Enders (of The Early November fame, amongst other projects), Aaron West is a concept character who takes the listener on a musical and lyrical journey of hunting for self-want that is worthy of Kerouac. The record opens with “Our Apartment,” a subtle and almost quietly happy number that sets an uplifting tone before the listener is sent into emotional upheaval with the events to follow. It’s a track that doesn’t say “I’m Aaron West and I’m in the best possible place I could be in my life,” but more of a “I’m content” number. It introduces the narrative to our protagonist and sets a questioning tone.

The record continues, the story develops, and we see Aaron face some of the toughest challenges anyone striving for stability could face. Challenges that you, the listener, will have to determine for yourself — this is a record review, not a plot summary. The way Campbell chooses the aesthetic and aural atmosphere for each song makes each and every number powerful in its own way. For example, “Divorce And The American South,” maybe the lowest point of the entire record, has this weeping, sardonic vibrance oozing from it. It really just wrenches at your emotions. Pack tissues, you’ll need ’em.

That’s not to say the record doesn’t tap into the opposite spectrum of emotion, either. A song rooted in pop-punk structure, “Runnin’ Scared,” isn’t placed where it is in the record to tug you down. The chorus is uplifting and instills the smallest shred of hope for our protagonist in the chorus. Later in the record, we see the opposite of this in “Get Me Out Of Here Alive,” where we see Aaron arguably at his lowest and Campbell is delivering arguably the best lyrical performance of his career. The song opens with “I’m starting to believe there’s a God and he hates me / I’m startin’ to believe that my mom lied about grace, divinity / and it hurts like the sunburn / it wakes me up from a deep sleep.” That’s the kind of line that knocks the air out of you, no matter how many times you listen. Campbell, a lyricist known for his sequential realism, has gone into a world of writing we have not seen from him before, and he has conquered it. A rare and beautiful performance.

The instrumentation on the record went beyond expectations. Tapping into the expertise of Enders’ production really helped make muddier portions of the record gleam and shine. And Campbell still provides the transparent lust in his delivery that listeners thrive on. The highlight track of the record, “You Ain’t No Saint,” is forthright. The chorus grips, the bridge is loud and honest, and the verses suck you into Aaron West’s story. This record shows that Campbell can be just as strong when not writing from realism.

All in all, We Don’t Have Each Other is a standout record and story. It shows the testament of a character that gleams some aspect of life we all can relate to — and that’s what makes it so powerful. Embrace the story and appreciate how well it’s told as the tracks unfold.

SCORE: 9/10
Review written by Matthew Leimkueler (@callinghomematt)

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2 Responses to “REVIEW: Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties – ‘We Don’t Have Each Other’”

  1. K. Bennett says:

    Such a fantastic album. I am a huge fan of TWY, I even have a large tattoo on the back of my leg inspired by some of their lyrics… but I was not excited about this album what so ever. I had gotten rather burnt out on TWY and because of that had no interest in this. How dumb was I? This is one of the better and most emotional (in all the best ways) albums I have heard in a long time. So good. Loved hearing the obvious input from Ace in the music. The Mountain Goats cover at the end worked amazing too. I am still trying to figure out how that works into the story. If you didn’t know it was a cover, you would just assume it was another track he wrote to finish the story.

  2. Matthew Leimkuehler says:

    Yeah, totally! I feel it meshes great with where he was going in the story. And the production of it helped make it his own.