Singled Out: Phil Aiken's Lesser Lights

Acclaimed Boston musician Phil Aiken just released his new single "Lesser Lights" and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

The first single from my album "Here Goes Nothing" to be released, with video, is a song called "Lesser Lights". It was written in a single sitting at the piano, and I wrote it start to finish in order, including the twists in song form. I did have the title in my head when I started. I wrote the intro riff, which led me into the first verse, into the pre-chorus, and so on. The interesting thing about the form is that the pre-chorus the first time through changes place with the chorus the next time through. That section - "The chip on my shoulder's getting older and older" also gets elongated and with slightly brighter chords the 2nd time it happens. In that sense the music mirrors the words, as "older and older" also suggests "larger and larger". I tend to just think of the song as having two choruses.

Lyrically I guess the "chip on my shoulder" in question could be described as the long standing resentment of the glorification of mediocrity. Lesser Lights rising to the top while excellence often gets left behind. I see this in all aspects of life, from pop-culture, to social pecking orders dating back to grade school, to politics. The most interesting and kindest people are often not the ones in the spotlight. The verses are somewhat tangential to that theme, but hint at perseverance by the outsiders and overlooked. I feel that it is essentially a positive song despite the snarky refrain, embracing "the sweet futility of esperance", to use that archaic phrase from the lyric. My standard quip when asked what a song is about is that if I could explain it better than the song itself, I'd have written an essay instead. Some of these thoughts are a result of analysis in hindsight, as if it is someone else's tune.

The concept behind the video by Michael Whalen of Artist Expansion has a few facets. Part of the impetus of having me stand and sing at a mic, when people are used to seeing me sitting at the keyboard, is exactly because people are used to seeing me sitting at the keyboard. Having me at the mic on stage in a faux late-night Sinatra looking scene is a deliberate move to have me not be "piano guy". The material and production on my albums, with one exception, do not scream "piano playing singer-songwriter." It just happens to be my main instrument even though I cut my teeth playing with guitar heavy rock bands.

That brings up a bit of a stylistic juxtaposition between the music and visuals. Hearing the music first, one might expect to see a rock band on stage moving around,. Conversely, given only the video, you might expect to hear some crooning. As it is clearly a studio recording, we also had a little fun with the lip-syncing, making sure it was mostly spot on, but intentionally leaving a few gaffes and shots where I am not singing at all.

Lastly, alongside the lyrical content, the obvious and literal presence of the stage lights makes sense and gets played with a bit visually.

So why this as a first single? I deliberately kept the album short; 8 songs, as opposed to my last release which was a 38 song 4 album set. I wanted each of the 8 songs to be distinct from one another and to feel essential to the album. If I did have to paint the picture with just one of them though, this one probably captures it best. There is an underlying sense that the order of things is not what it should be, but rather than wallowing in the bitterness, there is a growing sense of detaching and letting go, or at least aspirations to do so. Maybe I'm starting to grow up and get complacent? Nah.......

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the album here

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