Chesterfield’s masterful solo man Aza Brown released his latest song ‘Wasting Away’ back on the 23rd of June and it’s a top listen, inspired by the artist’s Central American travels. Returning from a 9-date tour of Mexico, and enriched by the culture, beaches and cuisine – Brown looked to inject just a slither of the Latino rays for fans back on home soil. Aza has kindly allowed the track to be downloaded by our readers for free here.
‘Wasting Away’, with its bouncing presence and uplifting energy, contrasts its very title. There’s humming bass, smoothly layered vocals, and a sun-soaked guitar that dances frivolously with the ‘oohs’ of backing vocals and flickers of piano keys. Brown sings of finding solace in open roads in Covid times, the rolling hills and lush pastures. In the face of adversity, all he seemingly needed to do was open his “third eye and look the other way”. While lockdowns of yesteryear put us all inside, Brown reflected on the digital limits put on ourselves with devices. “Amazon Prime will never put a roof over my head” shows this discontent, before bestowing a vow of positivity unto himself: “Oh man, this could be glorious now things are going my way.”
Aza's seemingly new lust for life is powered by his love for his girlfriend and the wonder of the outside world. As the press reflects, in late March of 2020, as the World descended into covid hysteria, one small mercy was that the UK was at least blessed with unusually fantastic weather, and so Aza Brown took off on his bike into the Peak District. Despite losing his band’s bookings for the year in a nasty overnight blink, Brown rode to clear his head – and this song is the thoughtful reflection of that ride’s internal dialogue.
From performing twice at The Ally Pally in 2018, recording with Arctic Monkeys producer Alan Smyth and playing the Rock The Boat Cruise in the same year, Aza’s band – The WonderWhys -- then supported The Happy Mondays the next year in Chesterfield. With the enforced lockdown, however, gigs ground to a halt, and Aza chose to record with local producer Danny Burton (Finley Quaye, John Entwistle, Zak Starkey), who was so impressed with his vocal harmonies that he invited him to sing on his own solo album “Night and Day”. Aza looks to go from strength to strength and will be performing at many festivals and events over the Summer of 2023 - including the F1 British Grand Prix and The MotoGP -both at Silverstone.
You can download 'Wasting Away' here for free.
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