Exposed Vocals just sat down to an exclusive interview with Aidan Koop to talk about her new Album ‘quiet spaces’

Australia’s not only known for its unique natural wonders and beautiful nature, but also for its great contribution to music. While the Billboard charts usually feature artists from England or the United States at the top, there are tons of great music communities “Down Under” as Aidan Koop calls it.  The album name “Quiet Spaces” gave my ears the proceed with caution notice. I found out quite quickly that was a false alarm. As the timeless saying goes – you cannot judge a book by its cover, you need to open it and look through the pages! So, that’s what we did. As this album progressed, we could easily appreciate the all-around talent Aidan has. Aidan Koop is a musical child prodigy on journey that started from the age of 10.

Blue Fields is an ultra-cool listening experience. I love the music, the concept, and the beauty and simple presentation overall of the track. The first thing you will want to do after hearing this is turn someone else on to it and that is exactly what every recording artist wants to hear.I say that because It’s pretty astounding how casual and raucous the ambient/instrumental crowd is these days. Amazingly, this is not a joke. In a time of truly fiery political rhetoric, people have been diving ears-first into the expansive realms of ambient/instrumental music in droves, putting on drawn-out and deliberate mood pieces to chill out to or do work to or meditate to, and while the eternal question of whether using ambient music for those purposes belies the artistry that went into it, make no mistake: the art is appreciated. This album is appreciated.

4.5/5 Stars

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

So I grew up in a split family, my Mum and Dad split when I was very young so I’ve lived my whole life in a sort of disjointed community. Most of my early days I spent doing what kids usually do, pestering their parents for new toys, playing guitar hero on PS2, spamming Pokémon for hours on end. You know, all the usual stuff. Playing video games came to take up a lot of my spare time. Until of course in 2008 when my Dad bought me my first guitar. A cheap little Ashton strat-style thing. So off I went to guitar lessons and after ten years, three guitar teachers, a few bands (school or otherwise) and five or more guitars – I’ve finally started recording music. So since May last year, I’ve released four EP’s, a demo EP and just recently a full length album. Ever since I picked up a guitar, I’d always hoped I’d be able to make a difference with this instrument. Now, making music is about transcribing what I feel and turning that into something that can be enjoyed and experienced by all. However, I hope for the future, I’ll be able to combine these two hopes and make a meaningful impact through music.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Personally I don’t get heaps of gigs or airtime, simply because I haven’t put myself out there. But you could get in contact with local pubs, bands or other musical people and communicate with other people in the same situation, you will find yourself getting gigs or airtime.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Of course. The way I play and record music is almost purely improvisational and experimental. I feel that mistakes in music, are just opportunities to follow a different path, create a new vibe or expand on a previous idea.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

Unfortunately I don’t tour just yet, at the moment I’m just a bedroom artist. But I’d love to tour in the future.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

Currently my setup is a tiny little MacBook Air, a little USB interface, a few guitars, a few sets of headphones/speakers, a POD HD Pro and a dozen or so effects pedals. This lets me achieve some of my favourite sounds, but I’d love to expand my setup with a decent computer and maybe a few real amps.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

I feel as though self promotion is the most difficult part of being an artist nowadays. Especially in a field where everyone has the same chance of getting noticed. All I can really say is share your stuff everywhere, follow other musicians just like yourself, chat to people and just give out physical copies of your music (CD’s, etc.)

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

I know I’d definitely love to play in Europe one day, just because of the rich culture, beautiful scenery and amazing people. But for who I’d want to play with, I honestly have no clue. Sure there are stand outs like maybe Yellow Days, Blis or Chon, but there is no one stand out for me. I’ve always looked up to these artists for pushing certain musical boundaries and creating signature sounds which I will always admire and appreciate.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Well, currently at the moment I’m trying to get some physical copies of my latest album ‘quiet spaces’ made and ready to go. Other than that, I’ve also started working on a music video for one of my tracks – not going to specifically mention which, but I’m very excited for it’s release hopefully early-mid this year.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Probably sitting at home playing video games all day.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

Hopefully as I mentioned before, physical copies of albums, a music video or two and possibly another album – who knows?!