“I flew into LAX with a dream and my cardigan,” Aaron Frazer says with a laugh.
The singer and multi-instrumentalist has called Los Angeles home for the past year and has moved on, settling in downtown Los Angeles after a decade in New York. And while Frazer has been in and out of Los Angeles for writing sessions and shows with his group Durand Jones and the Indications, his West Coast setting heralds a whole new era.
“Home is a funny word,” Frazer says of his move. “It was like a confluence of multiple destabilizing events: the end of a five-year relationship; we had been living together for years. We were planning to move to Los Angeles together, but I ended up going west alone. I landed in a new city where, sure, through music I’ve met people, but I haven’t know people.”
From this conflicting and sometimes disconcerting swirl of emotion, pain, loneliness and cautious optimism, Frazer created “Into The Blue.” Frazer's second solo LP, out Friday and co-produced by Grammy winner Alex Goose, is the kind of reflective, true-to-self effort that can only be made at the lowest point following a great life change.
“[I was] “I’m stepping into this big, sad unknown, and that’s what led me to this image of blue. It’s part desert, part ocean, a lonely, endless horizon that also reminds me a lot of the cowboy,” Frazer says. “It’s this nexus of a lot of nature that contains solitude, but also possibility.”
“Into The Blue” features some of the soul and falsetto vibes Frazer is known for, but dives headfirst into his many influences: 90s R&B (“Far Away”), Black Keys-inspired tracks that burn the track dance (“Payback”), disco (“Easy to Love”) and spaghetti western soundtracks (“Into the Blue”). Frazer's love of hip-hop is an undercurrent throughout the record and was fueled by Goose's influence.
Frazer recently spoke to The Times about how moving across the country allowed her to express her most authentic artistic opinions and about the places in Los Angeles where she found community along the way.
“[I was] “I'm approaching this big, sad unknown and that's what brought me to this image of blue,” Frazer says. “It's part desert, part ocean, just an endless, lonely horizon that also reminds me of the cowboy.”
(Photography by Rosie Cohe)
Jeremy Sole's Loft, Boyle Heights
I spent my last two months in Los Angeles in 2022 living in that loft, sharing a room with my partner and Jeremy was my roommate. That was such a crazy loft; it used to be a fish market in the 30s and now this artist who does large installation work lived there. In the middle of the warehouse was a giant chrome submarine, about 40 feet long, and inside it lived a three-legged cat named Arlene.
When I come back [March] In 2023, I asked to sublease it again. They were in the process of converting it into a simple warehouse; Jeremy was no longer there and the artist was away a lot, doing many different concerts. So I was there alone, where I created these memories with my partner, and now I'm in this cold, stripped warehouse. I started [my new life in L.A.] where I left off. Except my life had basically fallen apart.
average pizza
The “homestyle” type of food in New York is obviously bagels, halal chicken and lamb with rice, and pizza, which I actually think is pretty good here.
I think people get too obsessed with “good pizza.” Never judge a city by its best pizza, judge it by its average pizza. Every city is going to have a top-notch artisanal pizza or an old Italian who makes one pizza at a time with his shaking hands and you have to wait in line for an hour. Fuck that. The measure of a city's pizza is what you can get at midnight for about $2.50. The Angels quarter sheets It's delicious, but that's more artisanal. Prince Street It's solid, it's a bit like a cheaper drunk. [food].
Frazer's second solo LP, out Friday, is the kind of thoughtful, heartfelt effort that can only be made at the lowest point following a major life change.
(Photo by Rosie Cohe)
Little Tokyo
I collect vintage clothes and, for me, Vintage Space City In Little Tokyo it's great. You can find things at a cheaper price or, if you're looking for something specific and authentic from the '50s, the store's owner, Zac Vargas, will show it to you.
For plants, Latinx with plantsAndi Xoch is the owner and she is an amazing small business owner, artist, and community organizer. She's in Boyle Heights, but they opened a location upstairs at Space City Vintage.
Sweet coffee, the coffee shop in Little Tokyo (and there's one on the Row too) has a really good blueberry matcha. I love matcha; The coffee makes my stomach turn.
I've been to Tokyo and Tokyo sushi is good. Of course, I only had it twice (it was a very short trip due to COVID restrictions) and I didn't go looking for the best. But I think LA sushi is just as good. I would scream Hama Sushi in Little Tokyo.
Sound of the Valley
I love go to Valley Sound in Boyle Heights; it's an amazing place to look for records. They specialize in Mexican music and music sung in Spanish, and I always get informed when I go there. It's almost like [records from] everyone's grandparents in Boyle Heights getting rid of their vinyl collections.
Studio 5, Atwater Village
Most of the record was made in Alex's home studio, Studio 5. I feel like it's going to be released in Architectural Digest or something. It's so beautiful. Alex has a great eye for interior design and stuff; he went to school to be a graphic designer. [The apartment is] Open, airy. He's a crazy vinyl collector; one of Goose's most prized possessions is an original Arthur Verocai record.
We spent days and days there; I spent this whole year locked in [Studio 5]We were able to really dig deep and not be in a rush.
It's great to live in a place where there are a lot of people I love and admire, and where we can spend real time together. I wasn't in between tours. I wasn't in a system like Dan [Auerbach’s, who produced Frazer’s debut LP]I mean, you write it in a week and then you record it really quickly. It was like a giant open space to take my time with these various collaborations. Moving to LA definitely allowed me to make this record the way I wanted to.
The troubadour
It gives me chills just thinking about it [my sold-out show there in February 2023]It's hard not to get emotional playing on that stage and I literally cried. All this emotional processing is necessary to write these songs, but the next step is to externalize and perform these songs for people.
I'm starting to play on the same stage where “Donny Hathaway Live” was performed. [and] Knowing that you can, in some way, be a part of that story. When you do that, you get a sense of conjuring ghosts, of magic, of witchcraft. That's what it feels like to play on the Troubadour stage.
It's a small stage, but the feeling is amazing. I love the two-level venues, where the crowd seems to be on top of you. It's almost like a wave is hitting you. I also want to thank Paramount in Boyle Heights. It's an amazing venue.
