Aaron Gibson: Horror Films and Sunday School

I first “met” Aaron Gibson in 2011, thanks to his Reader Spotlight article on No Treble. What I didn’t know until a little while later is how special his music is.

Fast forward to 2019. After enjoying his music for years, he completely knocked me out with Horror Films and Sunday School. This is so Aaron, and so new too.

The best music comes from the life of the composer, and Horror Films and Sunday School is no exception. In our January 2019 interview with Aaron, we learned so much about the background of this album, which came from some seriously difficult times. Here’s how it all began:

“It started with ‘Full Dark,’” Aaron shared. “I moved my mother back to the States and into our home because her cancer was progressing. My wife and I got a plane from Atlanta to Portland, Oregon to clean out her storage unit and bring her things home. The morning after we arrived, we got a text saying that our son’s friend, who grew up in our home and whom we loved, was dead. Then we had to drive back to Atlanta. I wrote ‘Full Dark,’ and several lyrics that landed in the other songs in my head along the way.”

Aside from the amazing music, arrangements, and the addition of strings, what is remarkable about this record is that Aaron wrote and recorded it in a van while traveling for work.

“I processed my grief by making stuff out of wood and making music.”

As he worked on the music, Aaron imagined adding strings. He searched the web for people who did string arrangements and found Nahuel Bronzini as a result. After they agreed to work together, Aaron gave Nahuel license to do his thing:

“I wanted the strings to have their own voice and I wanted them to interact with the song; I didn’t want generic strings that just went along with the changes, so I told Nahuel to be as creative as he wanted to be and that would be our starting point.”

As things progressed, Aaron decided to add some additional voices to the music. So he enlisted another good friend of mine, bassist Steve Lawson (for the song “Webs”), and another fantastic bassist, Jason Everett (on “Boy”).

While I’ve always loved Aaron’s solo bass and vocal recordings, the addition of the strings and guest appearances make this my favorite album by him, and one of the favorites in my entire collection.

Get a look at the recording of the album with this beautiful tune, “See The World”:

And here’s a photo Aaron shared of his van, which served as his home away from home and recording studio during his travels: