The British rock band AARON BUCHANAN AND THE CULT CLASSICS have announced that they’ve signed to LISTENABLE records and to celebrate this change in career trajectory, the band and label have released a Special Edition of their album ‘The Man With Stars On His Knees’.
The former Heaven’s Basement vocalist Aaron Buchanan put together his “Cult Classics” after initial rehearsals in June 2016. The band continues to reproduce irresistible sounds with 1990s grunge rock influences and they originally recorded their album “The Man With Stars On His Knees” [based on demos that Buchanan worked on during his time with Heaven’s Basement] in 2017.
“This signing feels right…” he says, after announcing the LISTENABLE deal. “It’s the best way for us as unified musicians and friends to give you bigger, better, more extravagant shows. […] Collective belief in this project is the thing that has made it a success and we now wish to share it…”
“All The Things You’ve Said And Done” is performance art in extremis with heaps of alterbridgeism, earth-shattering rhythms, and unsettling observations set within a harmonic, grungy-cake milieu. This is redefined emo of the mid 1990s?
“Dancin’ Down Below” has symphonic, bouncing fieriness and must have taken one helluva lotta nerve to pull off… With sister guitarist Laurie “Loz” Buchanan [also of The Amorettes] providing a heady cocktail of acidic riffs alongside the equally talented former Never Means Maybe guitarist Tom McCarthy. Golly-gosh, this is kick-ass cool!
“Morals?” brings progressive rhythms and the kind of histrionic extravagance + art-rock glam-banging that you might’ve expected on a mid-1970s Queen recording but would never have thought possible on a post-millennial emo outing. But if you’re looking for overlapping glam-rock extravaganzas stuffed with high-flying harmonies, heartbreaking-sweet guitar excursions and florid flashes of inspiration tucked into every magicians sleeve… this is all, definitely, for you.
At times Buchanan’s singing voice resembles the tranquil beauty and ravishing power of Freddie Mercury but he also renders the searing heat and rasping pain of Ian Gillan and the unique phrasing of Chris Cornell. Yeah, this recording might be a veritable potful of nostalgic longing but the atmosphere they’ve created together is ever-energizing; and Aaron continues to find new and exciting ways to interpret our fears and tease the fans. A good contender for album of the year!
Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheCultClassics/
The Man With Stars On His Knees is already out on CD. The vinyl release is tomorrow March 15th
Aaron Buchanan and The Cult Classics will be performing at this year’s Download on June 16th at Castle Donington and Rockin’ The Bowl Festival, Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield on September 14th.
RAW RAMP 