FORMS - Summer Thunder

FORMS

Summer Thunder
self-released; 2017

3.5 out of 5

By Dan Weston

FORMS is the solo project by Aaron M. Miller. He released a three-song EP entitled Summer Thunder EP. The songs are all instrumental and veer towards prog rock. 

​The songs consist of bass, guitar and drums. The guitar and bass is the bulk of the music. I can’t say the drums sounded organic. They sounded programmed which is fine in some cases but the lack of dynamics was obvious when the snare hits sound exactly the same. 

He opens with “Angle” which starts with a field recording of a thunderstorm. The guitars are pretty and the best aspect of the music. I didn't mind the bass but something about it felt one dimensional. 

Up next is “Beams” where Miller plays some of his most inventive guitar parts. There are a good amount of transitions in there. He implements a couple of time changes that worked well and dabbles in unconventional scales. “Cloud” is the closer which has some inspired moments along the way and has a decent amount of energy.

Here is the main issue with this style of music. It doesn't work very well solo. Prog rock bands like this were meant to be recorded live in a pro studio. Something gets lost in translation with bedroom recordings.

Ideally, Miller should consider working with a bassist and drummer to bring some of that live energy to his original compositions. If he is going to stick to a solo effort he may want to think about different ways to approach the music so it doesn't feel like he is trying to sound like a live band.

Compositionally, I was impressed by his technical ability and creative prowess. The guitar parts were inventive and thought the flow of the songs was smooth and never dragged
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Overall, Miller has some talent and I am interested to see where he goes from this appetizer of an EP.

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