Review Summary: Anything but simple.
It is always incredibly satisfying to find an artist who knows exactly what their strengths are. They play into those strengths, create magic around them, and don’t try to overindulge themselves for the sake of their art. That is exactly the kind of artist Aerial East is and exactly the kind of album she has created with
Try Harder. She has a naturally beautiful, soothing voice and a way to transfer her life experiences into captivating lyrics. The music is sparse and minimal, often little more than some simple guitar, piano chords, synth, and rarely-but-effectively used layers of strings. If the vocals weren’t included, much of it could even border on ambient. These compositions perfectly accompany and highlight Aerial East’s voice, as clearly seen on the opening title track. As she sings the chorus, there are a total of three chords played behind her as her voice exposes a lilting vulnerability. “Katharine” features a simple vocal melody that tells a story of one Aerial’s closest friends from her time moving around as a military brat, featuring largely a picked acoustic guitar and occasional string and vocal flourishes that evoke Sufjan Stevens at his best. Nothing is complicated, but every piece is also essential - Nothing is wasted. From the horns and woodwinds in “I Love Dick” to the short transitionary track featuring the vocals of Okay Kaya, each aspect of the
Try Harder was created to highlight Aerial East’s strengths. It is minimal while also being intentional.
That being said,
Try Harder is much more than a meditative background listen. It provides reflective, honest lyrics that are largely based on true experiences from East’s life. These aren’t songs of regret or longing from what used to be, but more of acceptance of these past losses and how they shape our lives today. The aforementioned "Katharine" is about a meaningful friendship from East’s younger days, but it’s also about how that friendship has come to its natural end. “Blue” and “Angry Man” are both about past romantic relationships, the former being a loving partner and the latter being about a relationship that was more toxic. Each song is a storytelling song that essentially does just that - Tells a self-contained narrative. There are not many choruses to be found on the album, as many of the lyrics are essentially a chronological stream of thought. If you were to listen to the final line of each song, it would essentially need a spoiler alert, because every song ends with a moral lesson and a pretty clear conclusion. Even though these are East’s experiences, they’re also general experiences that are fairly universal, meaning that each song can likely conjure up a similar memory from the listener. At its core,
Try Harder is a seemingly simple album telling seemingly simple stories. However, when done as well as Aerial East does it, seemingly simple becomes so much more.
