In 2018, Rich Aucoin set out from Los Angeles to bike across America, and by the time he left California, he knew he’d be writing an album about the United States. When he reached New York, Aucoin had twelve songs written; one for each state he had peddled through. Those songs now feature on Rich’s latest release United States, a synth-heavy pop-rock record that is as flashy, assertive, and complex as its subject matter.
It may not shock you to hear that at the time, in year two of the Trump presidency, the U.S. was a land filled with gun violence, civil unrest, and political corruption. Aucoin makes no attempt to shy away from these topics.
“Seeing these decaying towns along Route 66 and eating at their diners where they proudly display black and white photographs of when the town was ‘great’ and booming just after the second world war when American industry was soaring, you can begin to understand and empathise with how Trump’s con of ‘Make America Great Again’ landed so well with these poor middle American towns.”
And so, appropriately, the album opens with “Kayfabe,” a track on the falsehoods of the American dream. The term “kayfabe” (if you didn’t know) is when fiction is presented as truth, most commonly found in the world of Professional Wrestling and now, American politics. Aucoin describes his opener as a “modern-day Beach Boys-style track,” a choice fitting for California’s entry on the record.
Written in New Mexico, “Red Rocks” stands as a highlight. A venture into EDM, this anti-capitalist anthem features an eerie vocal performance over a gloomy piano on a track that draws shades of the electronic side of Sufjan Stevens (who Aucoin cites as an influence).
On “Reset” Aucoin tackles the ever-present issue of gun violence. Rich started his bike tour a month after the horrific mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, an event that caused mass anti-gun violence protests throughout the United States. During his trip, two separate shootings occurred either nearby, or directly on the route, Aucoin was taking. “Reset” as a result, is an angry and booming rock track; It’s Aucoin’s Seven Nation Army for gun control, or as he puts it, “[A] call to arms for a call to no arms.”
After eleven tracks, Aucoin bookends the record and takes it live off the floor with “American Dream”, a Tobias Jesso Jr.-esque piano ballad that’s minimal in its instruments, but strong in its arguments.
“Please try again
is what they say
because they need you to play.
So please play again,
Though you can never win.
Know you can never win,
and that’s the heart of the scheme.
I don’t wanna lose my life
to the American dream.”
Aucoin is no stranger to the cinematic, and while this record won’t sync up to any classic film (like Aucoins’s previous works), it does tell the story of a country tearing at the seams. United States delicately balances the weight of fighting an empire and championing those who are fighting alongside him.
Currently, Rich Aucoin is working on a new synth record and plans to start another collaborative album come 2021. He is also hosting a monthly live show on Twitch the last Thursday of each month.