AARON WEST & THE ROARING TWENTIES — ‘IN LIEU OF FLOWERS’

Writer’s Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties is one of the most conceptually interesting projects in all of music currently. The brainchild of The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell, the project tells the story of Aaron as his life fell apart, his attempt to rebuild it and now, with the release of this third LP, we finally get to see he’s in a good place.

For ten years I have followed this project from his divorce, his lust for a new life and how he was able to run away and start again, his new life and now we finally have a truly joyous chapter in the life of Aaron West. It’s hard to talk about this band due to the fact it’s an evolving story of a fictional character, it’s almost like a TV show and was likened to pro wrestling by Dan Campbell himself in the way that the story always evolves and is fluid. It’s weird to talk about this project for those reasons because Aaron West isn’t a real person, we are connecting and empathising with a fictional character and how his life changed after his fictional divorce but as a longtime fan of this band, ‘In Lieu Of Flowers’ makes me truly happy knowing that Aaron is finally happy.

Like I said, the closest comparison as to what Aaron West is is pro wrestling. Everything counts, nothing is static and it always evolves. As such, every live show Aaron has ever played is canon. Over the evolution of this project, he went from a man who had his whole life turned upside down by his divorce but as the career of Aaron continued, he began to sing about touring with his band. It’s a sort of self-aware, meta therapy exercise and because of this, this record discusses life on tour a lot. The strain it puts on his relationships, reference to his sister Catherine and their strained relationship due to Aaron’s troubles can be found throughout, most notably on the track ‘I’m An Albatross’ but references to the deeper AW20 lore are found throughout. Songs about his life as a touring musician and trying to piece himself back together are scattered throughout with the album’s opener ‘Smoking Rooms’ being a look at his life on the road and the excellent ‘Alone At St. Luke’s’ almost being a tour diary of the last time Aaron toured the UK. A lot of mental gymnastics are needed to understand this band when you read about them or have it explained to you, I’m fortunate enough to have been following this band for their whole career now so I have been able to learn the lore over time but even if you can’t be bothered with all the theatre of the whole thing, they play some outrageously good songs and that is more than enough.

Every influence the band has shown over the past ten years is on display here and as the band grows, we can hear just how deep this unit is at full strength. Some tracks are either solo or with a few band members, some come with the full 16-piece outfit locked in. It is a grand and imposing musical feat, both wonderful and almost intimidating at the same time. Ambition is one thing this project has never lacked. The trademark americana is elevated with the sheer size of the band and with every appearance of a steel guitar, the horn section and banjo you know you are listening to something special. As someone who has never been a fan of Springsteen and knowing just how much he has influenced this project, this is to me what I imagine Springsteen is to so many people. It is poetry from the gutter and anthems of the working man trying to get to the next day. I cannot tell you all just how much this record does, you just have to listen to it and by the time ‘Dead Leaves’ finishes then I promise that you’ll get why this band is so special to me.