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"Into The Blue is the clearest portrait of who I am as an artist. It's me through

and through," says multi-instrumentalist Aaron Frazer. A daring blend of soul, psychedelia,

spaghetti western, disco, gospel and hip-hop, Into the Blue represents the impressive range

of Frazer's sonic talents. Frazer maintains the unmistakable falsetto and classic songwriting

he's known for, but plants Into the Blue firmly in the now with a hip-hop mentality at it's core,

weaving together genres and production techniques to form something new.

Into The Blue was conceived, like so many classic records, out of actual

heartbreak. Frazer moved cross-country from Brooklyn to Los Angeles and embarked on a

journey that's reflected in the album's themes of grief, loneliness, and searching for healing.

"Into The Blue really means heading into the unknown. That has been the last year of my

life and I'm still in the blue," Frazer explains. "But there are also songs here that celebrate

love and the giddiness of a new relationship and all that. That's part of a breakup to me,

processing the whole thing, remembering the things that were right as much as the things

that were wrong."

Frazer wrote on every track and played several live instruments on the

album. The title track, "Into The Blue", is a haunting, resolute anthem, combining cinematic

strings and tough-as-nails breakbeats as Frazer heads west. "Here I go, to a place where the

broken heart knows," he sings. "It's all I can do. Back into the blue." "Payback" is an explosive

dancefloor heater, featuring shimmering tambourines and driving bass lines. Northern soul

drums meet snarling fuzz guitar, hurdling towards it's epic conclusion.

The album features moments of towering arrangements, recalling David

Axelrod and Ennio Merricone, balanced by rawness, incorporating iPhone recordings

and one-take vocals. For Into the Blue, Frazer enlisted Grammy-winner Alex Goose as coproducer, known for his crate-digging samples and collaborations with hip-hop artists like

Freddie Gibbs, Madlib and Brockhampton. Frazer also experimented with samples for the

first time on a record, drawing from unexpected sources like 90s R&B group Hi-Five.

Though Into the Blue is born out of heartbreak, Frazer hopes it leaves listeners with a sense

of optimism. "You know, you can still laugh on a day when you're grieving," he says, "there's

no peaks without valleys," he says, but Into The Blue sees Aaron Frazer at new heights.