Living Life Aloud
The Allston-based band dish on the music business and the local scene
by Andrew Palmacci

Less than a year after the release of their debut album, three members of the Boston area group Aloud sat down at a bar/restaurant in Allston to discuss their music-making process and their experience with the local music scene. Assembled were singers/guitarists Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain and bassist Roy Fontaine.

Aloud’s latest musical effort—entitled Leave Your Light On—is actually their second major release since the band formed in 2002, after 2004’s The Sooner It Comes EP. De la Osa notes “Your first album is always the breaking-your-back one. You’re a lot more aware of what you want coming out of that.” She’s hoping that the band will record some new material this summer and release a sophomore album this fall, considering they compiled a bunch of songs last summer after their first record came out in May of 2006.

As for Leave Your Light On, the disc finds Aloud rocking out in fine fashion—their strength being their fluency in various sub-genres of rock, such as pared-down indie-rock in vein of the White Stripes or Raveonettes, slightly harder rock like the Australian group the Vines, or rough blues-rock. There is also a good amount of classic influences apparent (Beguiristain notes: “We’re Beatles nerds.”). The band, however, is uneasy with the classic rock tag—something that Jen says gets them going creatively.

“We were pegged as a classic rock band for a long time…If you’re going to hit us with that label, we’re going to make a record that’s completely not in any way…”

The strength of Aloud’s album is that hard-rocking sounds don’t take away from quality songwriting—specifically solid lyrics. “Beaches” employs religious imagery to cast a somewhat more complicated picture than your basic day by the sea. “Love is a Beast,” talks metaphorically of love throughout. Other strong tunes on the album include “Slipped in Your Dream,” a ballady number, “Wouldn’t It Be Sweet,” a song that makes use of both acoustic and electric guitars and lead vocals by Beguiristain, and “Late Last Nite, ”an up-tempo track with plenty of satisfying, crunchy guitar riffs and with lead vocals by de la Osa. These two singers split the record’s vocals in half, with both of them singing main parts on “All I Can Do” and Fontaine contributing backing vocals.

As for the band’s influences, they were quick to mention The Bon Savants (whom Aloud has played with a few times), The Silver Lining, Scamper, Radio America (from Worcester, now moved to New York), and the Shills. They’ve also played with The Sterns on the road in Saratoga, New York and will jam again with them in May.

The group then went on to decry artists who don’t connect with or feel like they need to communicate with fans. Beguiristain observes that link is “really all that’s left” of traditional music industry structure. He added “What else do you have besides a connection to your fans or just people that are watching you play?”

 It’s a message that rings loud and clear.