AQUARii
Written by: Cait Elizabeth - September 2019
Edited by: Travis Ryan
Introductions
AQUARii is a band that prefers to push the limits of traditional music guidelines until the rules become their own. Cassandra House (vocals), Josh Smith (keys/vocals), Safrah Levitan (keys/vocals), Kyle Sweitzer (bass/synth bass), and Nick Garbarini (drums/pads) joined forces “about 2.4 years ago” to “string together as many questionable polyrhythms and chordal structures that we could muster.” The members have all been part of the Long Island music scene for a while now, crossing paths and admiring each other’s talents in and around Patchogue until they were able to start something up together. Intricate and unconventional time signatures come together to create a futuristic R&B and soul fusion. Each song is a journey through space and time guided by synthesizers, haunting vocals, and deep subby bass.
AQUARii has a six-track self-titled EP and a 12-track LP called Goodbye available now for streaming!
Tours & Shows
AQUARii has been popping up locally as of late, most recently taking the stage at Bradstock, a twenty-year-strong fundraising day-festival in Center Moriches.
The band shared a quick story about the time Josh tried to play a set with just his computer: The spaciness was too much for the machine to handle and the equipment was having a rather literal meltdown, so it was confined to a cooler in order to complete the show. I can’t imagine they tried that again.
Support & Subscribe
Www.aquariiband.com
Facebook
Soundcloud
Spotify
Apple Music
Inspirations & Influences
Moonchild, Lettuce, Snarky Puppy, and Frank Ocean were listed among many others in an eclectic group of musical influences. The band’s unique sound pulls from so many places that it really creates a whole new genre of its own.
““Shout outs literally to everyone we’ve come across whether bad or good because you learn from the unpleasant encounters as well. But especially [we] would like thank anyone who has personally inspired us to play more, write more, and put more energy into what we are doing either as a group or individually. We all need that to survive, especially as musicians. Supporting each other is integral and showing love to each other is vital. In the words of Robert Glasper, ‘if Herbie Hancock can be cool, then you should be able to be cool.’””