A SHORT DREAM (A EULOGY TO THE AEFFECT)

Last night I dreamt I was writing a short tribute to the band The Aeffect. I was seeing the neon yellow font of their logo, and the evocative black and white landscape on the cover of their first EP, "A Short Dream." The forlorn strings of their orchestrated, digital pop played the soundtrack to my R.E.M.

My dream provided enough inspiration to make me go through with writing such a piece. The fact that I'm still dreaming about a defunct, obscure Floridian Synth-Pop band that was only active from 2000-2005 points to two things: the fact that their music has a residual nature, and the fact that their music is inextricably associated with dreams. I suppose I should've said three things: it also points to the fact that their music was damn good.

I suppose it says a few things about me, too.

I. INSOMNIA

I first heard the Aeffect (officially spelled The Æffect) in 2001 on a record sampler from Fueled By Ramen Records. Fueled By Ramen releases mostly punk rock (though I commend them for their eclectic band roster in 2001, before they became significantly more commercial), and The Aeffect's song, "Insomnia" stuck out like a sore thumb. It was dark and moody, with a fat, bouncing synth bass line, the singer's voice deep and brooding. The beat was a four to the four dance beat, a slow one, that sounded rigid and programmed, but was played by their drummer on electronic drums.

The Aeffect were a three piece band from Gainesville Florida, a flourishing musical scene home to semi-well-known bands from various strains of punk, including Hot Water Music and Less Than Jake.

I've never been sure how to correctly pronounce Æffect. When I say it in my head, I say "Ey-fect," but I remember reading on the band's old message board that the band pronounces it both my way and as plain old, "The Effect."

I believe my original sampler from Fueled by Ramen had them listed as "The Effect," which is puzzling, as Aeffect is already a typographical compromise from Æffect. This makes one wonder if they had changed their name from The Effect early on, because the name had been taken. This would explain the cryptic use of Æ, but this is sheer speculation on my part.

The lyrics of "Insomnia" are thoughtful and clever, slowly unfolding to describe the discomfort of a man who can't fall asleep. The singer's voice is casual, but expressive, and his lament is strongly felt. I later discovered the vocalist, Aaron Feibus, has had trouble sleeping all his life.

The chorus is a drastic change of melody from the verse, with twinkling synth arpeggios, delicate, like the light of taunting stars. The song culminates in a dizzying and slippery synth solo accentuated by pounding toms, building and releasing tension at the end of each measure.

The song was bewitching. I knew the Aeffect's sound was influenced by an era before my time - 80's new wave - however, it wasn't just the Aeffect’s sound that appealed to me, it was the unlikely melodies, the mixture of casual and climactic moods, the thoughtful lyrics.

"Tossing in bed
throw the sheets overhead
To aid in getting rest
A curse of the mind
A sign of the times
Most often suppressed"

The words came to me on sleepless nights, common the summer before my senior high school year, when I slept long into the day and was restless at night.

II. A SHORT DREAM

In October of 2001, The Aeffect released their debut EP, A Short Dream. I eagerly bought it online, as I bought most of my CD's; my musical wish list was often too esoteric to be found at the local Tower Records. At 17:08 playing time, containing 6 songs, two of which where instrumental interludes, A Short Dream was indeed short.

The EP includes the aforementioned “Insomnia,” admittedly the highlight of the EP, but new songs "Oh You Didn’t Say" and "Always Artificial" are equally good. “Oh You Didn’t Say” kicks the record off with snappy, taut drums (the snare drum sounding like a quick release of air, which intensely overlaps itself when the drummer does a stare rush), slithering synth bass, and smooth sine waves that float, twist, and meander, as Feibus leads the instruments into encircling choruses.

He's as witty and on point as on “Insomnia,” and his voice is smooth, floating from high to low altitudes. The songs are upbeat while still being shadowy and foreboding, and are perfectly illustrated by the album's cover, a high contrast photograph of the sun moving behind a dark cloud. The overall production sounds high-tech and electronic but there is a human groove, owed to the live instrumentation. The arrangements are full, having many layers of strings and synth.

I read an interview with the band at the time, in which the singer talked about opting to record on analog tape, as it gives a fuller, warmer sound than digital recording. This is clearly noticeable in the music, and another reason why the sound is distinctive. "A Short Dream" is a soundtrack to a dream, as organic as your heart beat.

I always imagined the Aeffect self-recording their EP, the three of them surrounded by electronic gear and cables, in a small bedroom at night. In actuality, The EP was recorded at Flying Blanket Studios in Tucson, Arizona with Bob Hoag who had also manned the controls for label-mates The Impossibles and Recover. This explains the high production standards of the recordings.

The two instrumental numbers "Third Level of Existence, Pt. 1" and "Third Level of Existence, Pt. 2" are eerie, but placid piano pieces, classical in style, which ebb and flow. They set the dreamlike tone of the EP and greatly enhance the flow of the songs. Part 1 flows perfectly into Insomnia, which, when I received the EP, gave me an excuse to revisit “Insomnia” over and over in a new context.

The whole EP is conspicuously cohesive, and perhaps the best EP a new band could hope to create. Fueled by Ramen was marketing the band properly, selling an awesome t-shirt, poster as well as buttons on their website. Like everything the band had done up to this point, their t-shirt was original, cool-looking and mysterious: a black t-shirt, where the logo had been screen printed on the inside, so the shirt had to be worn inside out, displaying it‘s seams. Beside the band name, it said "ALT-0198", the key code to type the Æ logo on a computer keyboard (try it, holding alt, and using the number pad on the right of your keyboard).





A Short Dream was generally well-received by online critics, and drew many warranted comparisons to 80's new wave bands such as Depeche Mode and New Order. However, at this point, a band admitting they never stopped listening to 80's music wasn't cool. Coming out the same year as Ladytron’s first full-length, and a year after The Faint’s “Blank Wave Arcade,” the Aeffect was right on the cusp of the New Wave revival explosion, but their music was far more expressive, intimate, and original than the bands that would become it's poster children.

III. FOUR SONGS

In summer of 2002, the Aeffect played the Vans warped tour. This seemed a continuation of their role as the odd synth-pop band amongst punk bands. Fans of A Short Dream were surprised they were on the bill, not only because they were such a small band, but because they weren't punk rock, and The Aeffect seemed surprised themselves.

At this time, the band also posted a new song, "Burning In the Bed of Fire," on their website. The song marked a somewhat new direction for them, which blew my young mind. Stabs of punk rock electric guitar had been added (think, the Clash's London Calling), the drums were more hard-hitting with even more of a live feel, and the atmospheric synth strings of A Short Dream were traded for buzz-saw synth leads. Their melodies turned at sharp angles, rather than the bouncing and meandering of A Short Dream. The arrangements were stripped down, clearly designed to be played by three people. Perhaps this new, more visceral style was conceived for the sole purpose of rocking the Warped Tour. Again, this is speculation, but if it were true it would be testament to the ingenuity of the Aeffect.

The nocturnal, introspective nature of Feibus's songwriting became more impassioned and daring, speaking bitterly and abstractly of relationships, the songs climbing to climaxes even more glorious than the "A Short Dream" material.

On "Burning In the Bed of Fire", the cut and paste spirit of electronic music is maintained, as blinking synthesizer motifs play in call and response, and Feibus' lyrics whip into swirling rounds as his voice overlaps himself, repeating desperate phrases and pleas, harmonizing with himself.

The band’s website alluded to a CD-R containing this song and several others being sold at their Warped Tour shows. It was shortly leaked as MP3s to various file-sharing programs, under the moniker "Four Songs." Reports of how rocking the Aeffect’s live performances were at the Warped Tour rolled into the Aeffect’s message board. All who heard the new songs, or had seen the band live, were spellbound, tracking the bands movements through the internet, and waiting in tortured anticipation for a full-length album. It seemed with their rocking, punk-infused synth-pop, that the Aeffect was anticipating a new era of Dance music. And they were, but by the time the genre exploded onto MTV and the airwaves, with bands like Hot Hot Heat, The Rapture, and who cares who else, the Aeffect were a forgotten blip on the radar.

Four Songs contained the songs "Burning In The Bed Of Fire", "Complex Complications", "Magnificent Curse" and "Multiplies," and is probably the Aeffect at their best. It's difficult to describe why I was so fascinated by this material, but I think it has a lot to do with the way the drums interacted with the instruments, which seemed totally new for electronic or even synth-pop music. On "Burning In The Bed Of Fire," the simple "bass/snare"-style synth drums (like Nine Inch Nails' "Closer") of "A Short Dream" are totally gone, and the drums sound like a live drum kit, utilizing crash cymbals and toms, though occasionally melding with sampled thuds, shakers, electronic bursts and the like. Many songs contain an orgasmic breakdown where a lone synthesizer plays a simple motif as the drums smash and pound, before going back into the churning verse.

Around this time another new song, "Where Did You Go?" surfaced on Fueled By Ramen's Feed Your Ears Vol. 1 compilation. It was as good as the best moments of Four Songs, but a little more polished, and even pointed to the band gaining more control of their new sound. Fans were becoming more rabid, longing for the band to get some recognition, and to be given full artistic reign in the studio for a full album.

IV. THE MAGNIFICENT CURSE

In fall of 2003, the band periodically updated their website, speaking of the forthcoming full-length. I waited throughout 2003, dreaming of the new heights they’d achieve when they went all out in the studio. I imagined what their new album cover would look like. I replayed the five new songs I had. For some reason, the Aeffect released their own Winamp skin, so one could give their MP3 program the same visual style as the Aeffect’s website. I loaded up all my Aeffect songs and played them on repeat, in my Aeffect-themed Winamp.

Most people probably forgot about The Aeffect during 2003. They probably bought “A Short Dream,” enjoyed it, then shelved it. I, in my innocent youth, was unable to appreciate all the wholly satisfying Aeffect material I'd heard thus far, and wanted more. There was a portentous darkness looming over all things Aeffect. I walked around at night, listening to A Short Dream on my iPod.

Then the unspeakable happened. Aaron Feibus left the band.

Their website announced that he would be going to Grad School to study law. The keyboardist/background singer, Steve Kramer, would be completing the record himself. A track listing was announced. It contained three of the old songs "Burning in the Bed of Fire" (though the title was curiously changed to “Burning In The Bed ON Fire“), "Multiplies", and "Complex Complications." A release date for October of 2004 was specified. I was a little shaken at the loss of a member, but the Aeffect boat had only tipped, it did not sink. I didn't consider the artistic role of a lead singer/songwriter in a band, and what his absence might mean for the music. All that mattered, to me, was that an entity named "The Aeffect" existed in some form.

The band licensed some songs to MTV Real World and Road Rules. They made a video for "Burning in the Bed of Fire." Their new album was going to big, I could feel it.

Finally October came. I ordered it. The padded mailer came. I tore it open. I played the CD.





Damn.

The only songs I liked were the re-recordings of the old ones from Four Songs. And the original recordings had been much better. More lively. The original versions didn't have any extra bells and whistles that couldn't be played live. I didn't like the new singer’s voice at all. He sounded melodramatic; at times it seemed he may have used Auto Tune to stay in pitch. He tried to hit too many notes, like an R&B singer. The sounds and timbres of the instruments were cheesy and cliché. It's just wasn't the same band. Feibus sang like he had just rolled out of bed. Kramer was wholly self-conscious.

I threw the disc (even the cover was uncreative- just a pink glow on a black background with the album title on top, Secrets & Lies.) in my dorm room drawer and forgot about it. I still listened to the pre-existing 11 songs by them, appreciating them for their innocent, vivacious glory, but I knew from hence forth the band I knew as the Aeffect was gone.

V. WHERE DID YOU GO?

In 2008 I thought, "Whatever happened to the Aeffect?" I looked them up on Wikipedia and discovered they broke up in 2005. I had ambivalent feelings. Secrets & Lies had been getting decent reviews and I wished the remaining band members success, even if I didn't prefer their new material. The three re-recordings, though inferior to the originals, were undoubtedly strong by any standards. People who hadn't heard the Aeffect before deserved to hear them; those songs would've destroyed anything else on the radio. Perhaps the remaining members felt how I felt- that something was lacking without their frontman. Perhaps they only intended to finish off the album they'd started, knowing they would disband after.

Now it's 2009. I still think about and listen to the Aeffect from time to time. I wonder how a skilled songwriter can give up music in favor of a career in law. As I search Aaron Feibus’s name on Google and look through pages of results at work in an office on the 12th story of a skyscraper, I wonder if I'm somewhat like Feibus. I, too, put some of my creative pursuits on the back burner in order to make a living.

Many people look to rock stars and musicians for inspiration, as a symbol that if you’re determined in your creativity, you can make something great. Rock stars send the message that authority and the working world can go to hell; all that matters is artistic passion. A musician I admire quitting music to become a lawyer sent the opposite message of rebellion. Knowing the eventual outcome, for me, makes the Aeffect’s music even more gloomy, it’s feelings more ambivalent, but, I suppose, sweeter in it‘s rarity.

I did manage to find one new Aeffect song in my searches. In 2003, before Aaron left the band, they recorded a cover of the song “Boxcar” by Jawbreaker for a tribute album. It’s good. Stylistically, it has the guitars of Four Songs and the synthesizer bleeps of a Short Dream, but it’s a cover, so Feibus’s voice mostly evokes Blake Schwarzenbach, and it can‘t be considered an original Aeffect song.

Then my exhaustive internet searches lead me to an oasis. Feibus had a short-lived musical project after the Aeffect! It seems he didn't give up music entirely, but began a band called Platelets with a female songwriter during 2006. Where the hell was I? Time sure does pass.

Platelets had a very cool blog in which Aaron commented on a range of topics, including recording. But they lapsed in their updates and musical output, and eventually allowed their domain name to expire. I was only able to read the Platelets blog on archive.org, a site that archives everything on the internet, so it can be browsed after it disappears into oblivion.

One Platelets blog post discusses recording a new single with a certain producer, and then the next post describes the producer canceling due to some personal emergency. Are all of Aaron Feibus's projects doomed? Plans for a new album are discussed, but eventually dropped. The final incarnation of the Platelets webpage on archive.org is simply a white HTML page that says "byebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebyebye..." ad nauseum in Times New Roman font.

The Platelets did, however, record two songs that were put out on compilations. They’re available on iTunes, and are fantastic. The murkiness of the Aeffect has mostly dissolved (though the mystery has not), and Feibus's smooth, creative vocals flourish with a new maturity. The instrumentation is as careful as the Aeffect, but more textured. It would be nice if Aaron Feibus would surface with a new project, hopefully to stay, but if it’s not in the cards, I just hope he's happy and finally able to sleep at night.


Audio Samples and Links:

INSOMNIA via Fueled by Ramen
BURNING IN THE BED OF FIRE
MULTIPLIES

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