Aaron Stewart may have been off the map for a bit as he pursued a career as a software developer, but his vocal power went nowhere. His new album “Traveling Light” delivers on powerful belts and falsettos, intricate riffs, and diverse instrumentation. Overall, it does well at telling a narrative about passion, love, hurt, and growth.
The flow of this album is amazing! Whether it’s the pertinent hit with ‘Rises and Falls’ after the intro, the dreamy reminiscence of the present moment in ‘Savor’, the rap bit in ‘Silver Lining’, the softness of ‘Not the End’, or the dancey optimism with the closing track ‘Infinite Sky’, there’s a bit of intrigue around every corner. The instrumentation ties everything together well, but it refuses to be one-note and evolves over time. In terms of songwriting, it’s easy to follow the narrative but leaves a lot of space to relate to an audience with.
Some standouts in“Traveling Light” are ‘Rises and Falls’, ‘Silver Lining’, and ‘Better off Now’. ‘Traveling Light’ delivers on the anticipation of the intro so strongly. This is the first taste of what Stewart has to offer since his break. The instrumentation has this jazzy bounce to it, and the riffy vocals show immediate strength. On top of that, it does well at exploring exactly what he’s doing, getting back into what he’s passionate about.
‘Silver Lining’ shows a lot in terms of jumping between a chest and head voice and has soft and punchy vocals that contrast each other well. At 2:09 a rap vocal cuts in that’s delivered with growly emotion, which even further follows up on vocal diversity. It explores the idea of seeing the silver lining in the self and one’s own experiences. But, it also delves into how people only post the best of their lives and that it’s important to not compare to others.
Then there’s ‘Better off Now’. This one gets into the pain of moving forward from a deeply close relationship. The piano and string instrumentation is somber and pulls at the heartstrings. The backing vocals are haunting, and the soft vocals have punches in the right places to give an emotional hit. This is raw emotion in musical form, and it lyrically goes into the pain that goes into the closing of something in a way that will change life forever. Nature references are used in the writing to do so in a poetic and enchanting way. This track is then contrasted well with ‘Infinite Sky’ which then goes into the idea of looking forward at the good things to come.
Shortly after Aaron Stewart got a music degree, he had to take a step back to pursue a career in software development. Aside from writing songs here and there, he was mostly in pursuit of his other career. He returned to music in 2021 with “The Wonder of Christmas”, and is now here with the 12-track “Traveling Light”. It was written slowly over the past decade with newly written tracks and was produced by Jeff Hoeppner. This is such a strong step back into the world of music for Stewart, so let’s see how he follows up from here.
Written by Sage Plapp
Catch a few singles from this album among a range of sounds to vibe to in our playlist!
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