Al Bastion - Aced High

​Al Bastion

Aced High
self-released; 2017

​3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Al Bastion is a solo artist from Texas who recently released his second effort entitled aced high. I felt while there were still improvements to be made but it was a good effort with enhancements.

​The production quality is different on a lot of the songs. Some of the songs have more clarity but anyway you split it’s lo-fi. Up first is “got ate” which felt closest to a ’60s folk song. The guitar is covered in reverb and his vocals sounded especially boxy on this song. 

That being said the song is well written but I just wanted to hear the lyrics a little better. The lyrics are ambiguous and open to interpretation. He sings, “the lighting bugs are in love with the moments of solace he could find from the beasts inside his mind.”

Up next is another folk type song entitled “the world is quiet here” while “gran” is a slow moving track that is one of the more depressing sounding songs on the album. That being said “gran” is a pretty good song because of how raw it sounded. 

I thought the clear highlight was “meanwhile back at the ranch.” The vocals are not only really clear and more audible on this song but pretty catchy. There's a little pep in his vocal performance which sounds good on him.

“The opium hum” is an experimental, instrumental track with ominous overtones that felt a little out of nowhere. It’s an interesting song but it would have maybe worked better with other liked minded material. The other two highlights were the title track and the closer “It never ends.”

Bastion still feels like a work in progress with his best work yet to come but I can say with certainty that there are notable areas that he has improved. I’d still like to see better production in the future and that shouldn't be too hard to pull off.

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