EXILES IN PARADISE is the NEW CD/LP COMING SPRING 2012
"Exiles In Paradise" will be the second studio release by Aaron Berg & The Heavy Love. The album was recorded last November in Chicago at the legendary North Branch Studios on the windy city's tiny Goose Island. Berg was joined by a veteran line up of Southern studio players including the phenomenal Mike Bagwell (Pedal Steel & Dobro), Chris Garrett (Bass), and John Byce (Drums, Mallets, Percussion, Extras). Special guests include Jim Becker of Califone on fiddle and Tim Joyce of Lesser Birds of Paradise singing vocal harmonies. A scattering of overdubs, preliminary mixing, and other bells and whistles were added at the band's studio/practice space in Piedmont, South Carolina. before being mixed and mastered in Nashville, TN.
"The recording has taken on both a pop and a country element I didn't expect," Berg says, "then we ended up mixing in Nashville so ultimately over a year's worth of work found its way through three diverse cities. " In contrast with its polished moments are unapologetic waves of brooding darkness climaxing on 'Farewell Song' with a frantic pair of pedal steel solos. All ten of the songs we tracked live with all four core band members performing together so it's a very tight moody album. Berg continues, "we captured more room sound than you normally hear but still very sharp and clear. For the first time we had really great production help and great microphones. Having laid down most of the album live in Chicago when we returned to Piedmont we really took the time to build a few choice sections to some songs. There are definitely some Pink Floyd meets Big Pink kind of moments." The album features a wide array of instrumentation including: fiddle, dobro, pedal steel, upright piano, Fender Rhodes, layered string basses, ambient pads, vintage pre-war drum machine, Hammond organ, various found percussion, and guitars of all kinds, plus a few other ghosts in the machine...
Born in South Carolina in 1984 to mom and pop owners of one of the oldest independent record stores in the United States, Aaron Berg grew up largely under a record bin and was playing in nightclubs and bars by fourteen. Originally an upright bass player, Aaron left South Carolina for New York City at age seventeen. He toured and recorded with a variety of folk and blues bands including bluegrass troubadour Peter Rowan before eventually moving to a basement studio in the Hispanic section of Brooklyn where he picked up guitar and began to write songs and sing in 2006. Since that time he has toured in over forty states traveling both as a solo folk act and with his electric band The Heavy Love.
"Berg resides in New York but is originally from Greenville, making this release one of the finest folk-rock albums ever made by an Upstate musician. Only 24 years old, Berg sounds like a sage with a deep-throated vocal style that at various turns recalls Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits. Hardly a typical singer-songwriter release, "Songs For Madame X" is full of lush musical arrangements and diverse instrumentation that makes it clear that Berg is a serious artist with unlimited potential."
--Dan Armonaitis, Syndicated Music Critic of Berg's 2007 debut (Spartanburg Herald-Journal, March 15, 2007)
"Aaron is one of the best people I know singing songs. There are lines in every song that just floor me. Aaron is big talent."
--Rebecca Martin, acclaimed folk/jazz singer (EMI recording artist / MAX JAZZ recording artist)
"The ultimate troubadour!"
-- Mike Grimes, Grimey's Record Store (Nashville, TN)
During his teenage years Berg’s family also ran a regional concert promotion company which promoted artists such as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Sam Bush, Gillian Welch, Los Lobos, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, John Prine, Dr. John, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, and The Band, among many others. During these early years Aaron was never far from sight absorbing from the wings of a dozen different stages a spiraling array of American folk and roots music.
“I met Jimmie Vaughan when I first started playing,” Berg recalls. “I will never forget him leaning down with all those rings and his greased back hair to shake my hand. All he said was ‘play what you want to hear, son.’ I think that could be the best advice anyone has ever given me.” Aaron sights delta blues and Appalachian folk as his initial sources of inspiration. “I think John Lee Hooker is the closest cousin to the music of the future. His music is made almost entirely of soul and improvisation. It is most of all about the raw intention of the singer. Hip Hop is what will be drawn inside next. Blues and Rap have a lot more in common than has been realized.” Despite Berg’s heavy draw from folk and blues as primary influences his background stretches in virtually every direction as does his music.