I have a new music crush and his name is Aaron Beaumont. Without honestly knowing much about him, I ventured out into the terrible cold, rainy weather to see him play at Living Room last night and it was well worth the wet trek.Aaron is one of those musicians that makes it look so easy. He has an effortlessly gorgeous voice and is a skilled piano player. He's handsome and well-dressed, but not pretentiously so. He was friendly but not showy and told interesting little stories between songs about his car suddenly bursting into flames on Sunset Boulevard (he's from LA). And while I don't know anything about his song-writing process, he makes that seem easy too. He has some really lovely songs that sounded so full, even though it was mostly just him and his piano (he had a flutist for a few songs, and while she was good and it was a nice addition, he honestly didn't need her because the piano music is so beautiful and voluminous on its own).
I think there were only two down sides: first, that his back was facing most of the audience because of where the piano was. Second, all of the music he played had a certain melancholy to it. And while that can be nice periodically, and it certainly was appropriate for the weather, I would've liked a little more variety. Even the one more upbeat song he played had a hint of sorrow underneath it. But there are upbeat songs on his album without that, so I know he's capable of it. He just didn't seem to play any of them. Although I did miss the very beginning of his set, so perhaps he played them then...
I believe he's playing another show on Saturday? At least there's one listed on his myspace... Go if you have a chance.
