TMN New Artist: aave

Nashville-based post-rock quartet aave <pronounced ahh-vey> will be releasing its debut full-length, There’s Nothing, on August 14, 2015 (in the digital format only). The creative collective specializes in sprawling psychedelic soundscapes and hypnotic musicality that evokes both bleakness and bliss, and music that is brimming with intricate ambient patterns, intriguing drum sounds, rubbery basslines, and celestial lead vocals. aave has been favorably compared to the Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd, Interpol, Warpaint, Tame Impala, and Blonde Redhead.

“We’re four people just trying to express ourselves authentically, collaboratively, and communicate our feelings to others,” says Lloyd Aur Norman, aave’s lead guitarist, about the music he makes with bandmates Kelly (vocals/guitar), Parrish (bass), and Peter Teselsky (drums). From the beginning, aave was conceptualized to be an outlet for many levels of expression. One example of this is the band’s name, which is Finnish for ghost, and conjures the haunting and otherworldly qualities of aave’s music. Another layer is that lead singer and visual artist Kelly creates stunning visual images to accompany each track, and his breathtaking artwork is also utilized in band videos and sometimes in live shows where the band plays to projected images. “We want to be more than just a traditional live performance band,” says Parrish, “We want to take our audience places emotionally by engaging both aural and visual senses.”

There’s Nothing was written, tracked, and produced by the band at its studio, Villain Place in Nashville. Self-producing was integral to the writing process as it allowed the
band to take their time building soundscapes and track when inspiration hit. Many of the lyrics on the album were conceived as Kelly recorded them, adding to the subconscious psychedelic feel of the album.

The band began in 2011, as an ambient indie-rock duo (Kelly and Norman), and released its debut EP, Sleep to Forget, in 2013 to critical acclaim. During this incarnation, the Nashville Scene praised the band, calling them “our hometown purveyors of dreamy, spacious, ambient post-rock.” In 2013, the twosome became a foursome (adding Teselsky and Parrish), welcoming into the fold a dynamic rhythm section. This artistically expansive version of aave is featured on There’s Nothing. The four members of aave have played together in various configurations over many years but never together on the same project until this album. As a quartet, the musicians furthered the aave artistic continuum by writing new material through collective improvisation.

Up next, the band is extending its artistic reach through using its studio and indie music business savvy to launch a boutique enterprise. Villain Place will be open as a studio for other bands, and the guys will be using their talents to give back to others through offering a menu of a la carte services such as music distribution, press campaigns, and audio and video production services. Parrish says: “It’s really meaningful to contribute and give back, and to use our band, and our knowledge, as a platform to help other musicians.”

aave is now playing on TMN Radio.