Porches
Ricky Music
Release Date: Mar 13, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Domino
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Album Review: Ricky Music by Porches
Fairly Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Ricky Music, the fourth studio album by Aaron Maine (also known as Porches) is an Auto-Tune-induced haven for fans. The entire album has a despondent feel too it, but it won't deter listeners from swaying to the dark, wobbling synths and stellar vocals that fans know of Porches' work. What makes Ricky Music an interesting addition to his repertoire, is that it's different than previous efforts, Pool and The House.
Based on rating 7/10
Beginning with 2016's Pool, his second album under the Porches moniker, Aaron Maine fashioned a distinctively spare and brooding form of synthesizer song. Highly stylized and mostly self-recorded, the tracks have ranged from eerie synth pop to pining keyboard balladry, with an intimate, lovelorn melancholia dominating each album. He reinforces all of those qualities on a dramatic fourth long-player, Ricky Music.
Based on rating 6.3/10
Aaron Maine's debut as Porches, 2013's Slow Dance in the Cosmos, was perfect if you were young and falling in love for the first time. The album was an indie-rock dream sequence where Maine imagined himself kissing his best friends and going down on his girlfriend before she headed off to therapy. It was funny, earnest, and sweet; it felt like the start of a promising career helmed by a doe-eyed musician who knew a thing or two about writing scrappy rock songs.
Based on rating 6/10
Aaron Maine describes Porches as his “public diary.” Porches’ music, at its best, captures a sort of intimate beauty drawing from Maine’s deepest joys and heartbreaks. Maine has shown himself willing to follow his muse to explore new corners of synth pop, be it danceable pop beats or opaque and cyclical production experiments. This approach can pay off beautifully in some cases, but other paths seem like musical dead ends.
Based on rating 3/5
Aaron Maine has always teetered on the cusp of greatness as Porches since his 2013 debut 'Slow Dance In The Cosmos', but is yet to execute his masterstroke. A stalemate which continues with 'Ricky Music'. While this collection is his slickest, most watertight LP, it does little to push his sound or songwriting forward. In 2016, it felt as if Aaron was ahead of the game on the leap from 'Slow Dance Of The Cosmos' to follow-up 'Pool' which traded guitars for minimalist synth pop.
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