Son Little is the embodiment of the truism that most overnight successes take years. Around Philadelphia, the singer/guitarist who goes by his given name Aaron Livingston has been a known entity at least since (his words) "mumbling/freestyling/singing the hook" on The Roots' "Guns Are Drawn," a dubwise track from the group's 2004 album The Tipping Point.
In 2011, Son Little and DJ/producer RJD2 collaborated on a project called Icebird, a collection of studio-controlled progressive pop and psychedelic soul excursions so luxuriously ahead of its time, people still don't quite know how to process it. Which is to say, Son Little took a long, circuitous, sonically adventurous road to the musical space he presented on his self-titled full-length album for Anti- Records, which dropped in October.
At an NPR Music showcase in New York that same month, playing in what amounted to a blues-rock trio alongside bassist Stephen Greenberg and drummer Jesse Maynard, Son Little pulled at his music and reduced it to its stripped-down core. Gone were the ornamental studio textures; in their place remained something simultaneously ancient and modern, beyond simple genre or emotional qualifications. Yet it's quintessentially American, the kind of sound that takes a thousand and one overnights to develop. — PIOTR ORLOV
CREDITS Director: Mito Habe-Evans; Producers: Saidah Blount, Mito Habe-Evans, Piotr Orlov; Videographers: Julia Reihs, Cameron Robert, A.J. Wilhelm; Audio Engineers: Jay Eigenmann, Josh Rogosin; Production Assistant: Cameron Robert; Host: Bob Boilen; Executive Producer: Anya Grundmann; Special Thanks: (Le) Poisson Rouge
