Zig is a Milwaukee, WI based singer-songwriter and producer.
Zig spent 15 years in the Seattle music scene in the Give It To Me Rusty project, in the band Weightless, as part of the underground DIY venue The Ballard Mine, as a member of the Bushwick Book Club, and performing under the moniker Aaron Zig.
2024 brings a new album and a refreshed presence under his lifelong nickname, Zig. It also represents a new era in his life. After 5 turbulent years, his long sought return to Milwaukee is a personal and artistic renaissance.
In 2019, leaving their home base of 19 years, Zig moved with his family to Vermont, feeling squeezed out of a Seattle that became increasingly untenable for artists, moving near family in the East. A few short months later, the pandemic hit. Under lockdown, knowing few, with an evaporated housing market and a young child, his family was unable to plant roots.
Next, seeking multi-generational living, his family moved to Connecticut with his mother, a close companion in his life, joining from Wisconsin. They hoped to create a viable new home. This again was not meant to be, as Zig’s mother passed away shortly after they moved in together, following a precipitous and unforeseen illness.
Heartbroken and adrift, needing a place not connected with loss, a new path emerged; a return to Zig’s hometown of Milwaukee. In contrast to their previous ventures, this time, things fell into place. Amongst friends, family, and familiarity, he and his family have found home in his new/old hometown.
During the tumult of 2023 music was an essential refuge for Zig. Working in his home studio, he wrote, recorded and produced Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space. Playing guitar, adding keyboard layers, singing lead and harmony vocals, he brought in musicians from around the country and globe to contribute drums, advanced piano/organ, stand up bass and female backing vocals, filling out the vision for what the album would become.
Surprisingly, this is not an album centered on the weight of loss. It does confront big themes like death, the ephemeral nature of life, love and companionship, but it approaches these subjects with humor, a light heart, and a joy embracing that embraces the absurdity of life. Upon reflection, Zig says, “The experiences of the past few years hadn’t hardened my heart. They opened me up to how fragile life is. Then, you have the choice, do you want to enjoy these days as best you can, or do you want to forever swim upriver? I was tired of the fight and was ready to enjoy what is, as it is.”
The musical palette of BBAOARIS is wide open, making for an eclectic album full of unexpected turns. The title track says it plainly, “We are free.” Maybe in another context this could be an easy, trite line, but Zig sees it with a Buddhist attitude. That we already have all the tools for freedom within ourselves, right here. It’s the seeking of a story and of making sense of everything when we get into trouble. “Are we the reason the universe existed? That idea’s always given me a little resistance. That’s way too much pressure for some big brained apes on a rock in space,” concludes the title track.
Bucking convention, the final album track is an acoustic version of this same song, sandwiching the album. In the acoustic version the line changes to “Being big brained apes on a rock in space sounds pretty great to me.” This life is enough; incredible in and of itself, as it is.
“Quiet My Soul” is a Sly influenced soul groove self-talk song, reminding, “don’t get too high, don’t get too low.” “Been Played The Fool” is a conga charged Latin groove with dark, twisting guitars. And “Why We Gonna Wait All Night?” is a fascinating Beck-like musical journey about Davey, a dancer whose improv dancing on a street in Paris catches the eye of a woman in a cafe. The liaison ends with him in a cast, but happy as ever. The debauchery and lyrics in French are a wink/nod to Serge Gainsbourg.
Other highlights include “Going Over Jordan In A Cadillac”, a fingerpicked blues number with Elvis inflected gospel harmonies. Living abroad in Ghana for a year, Zig was able to see first hand the custom coffin makers famed for their inventive creations. This seemed an apt metaphor for living with flair and going out with a bang.
“Can’t Push A River” recasts a middle-aged man who looks in the mirror. Instead of seeing his receding hairline he sees the “fire in my head, the fire in my heart, I ain’t leaving this party before the party starts”. He turns his daily grind into a 007 game of survival. Instead of pushing the river, he gets on for the ride.
“Grow With Me” is a raw, one take affair, capturing the small moments that make up a life. “Send For Me” is a slow burn, building to a crescendo that ends with a hanging suspended question, “When your day is done, and your time has come, whose gonna hold you in their arms?”. The last of the mid-album trio of love songs, “Give Me Your Room, Give Me Tonight” is a simple reminder of the renewal of romance. Sometimes, amongst the velocity of modern life, it’s all we need to slow time down.
Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space is Zig’s most complete work to date and is the culmination of his lived experience, confidence as a producer, and the most realized version of his artistic voice. Years of recording, experimenting, failing and growing have led to this moment for Zig. Ultimately, he says, “My hope is that the refuge and release these songs provided me can go forward with the listener, and the album can, in some small way, give them a moment of freedom.”
Influences: Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Devendra Banhart, Leonard Cohen, Father John Misty, Nick Drake, Guy Clark, John Fahey, Doc Watson, Gustavo Santaolalla, Hans Zimmer, Phillip Glass, Yann Tiersen, Danny Elfman, Boards Of Canada.
Discography:
“Big Brained Apes On A Rock In Space” (2024)
“Walking In The Light (For Mary Lou)” (2023)
“Grow With Me” - Single - (2020)
“The Medicine’s Kicking In” (2014)
“Pioneer Square Recordings” (2013) w/ Noah Dassel as Give It To Me Rusty
"Heaven Never Left Us" (2012)
"Where All Things Go" (2010) in Seattle with band Weightless
"Cranium Miners Blues" (2007)