A Room Two Seconds Wide: Hondo Sessions Volumes 1 and 2

A singer-songwriter can fade into the background of a café even as they perform, their voice taking its place among the scrape of chairs and the hiss of the steam wand. Every so often, a line gets through and someone at the next table forgets what they were about to say. Alejandro Aranda of Pomona, California, who records here as Hondo, similarly learned to play for people who were free to keep walking. He was making a living washing dishes and working warehouse jobs when he took up guitar and piano around the age of twenty. After his shifts, he played in the street, in part to get past his stage fright. The guitar style he developed owed much to the piano and to the hours he spent with Bach and Chopin. With Philip Glass in his ear as well, he wondered how much of the keyboard’s capacity to carry a melody and keep a rhythm in motion he could fit onto six strings. One of the first songs he’d written, “10 Years,” was for a friend going through a divorce. He posted it to YouTube in 2016…

Commenting on Bubbles has been removed. Why? If you want to talk about this post, write to the author, use the comments on their blog if it has them, or reply with a "RE:" post on your own blog. Suggestions? feedback@bubbles.town