Just a few months after the release of his debut album Mother, San Francisco-based artist and visionary Aish recently embarked on a West Coast tour, which concludes at the Rickshaw Stop on August 23. Aish has been on the radar of the indie music community since the release of his first single “Promise Me” in 2016. The animated music video was directed by multimedia artist Philip Rugo.

“The lyrics are what I imagined my mother saying to me before we separated,” Aish told VICE.

Aish’s relationship with his mother are reflected in every track of Mother. They were separated for a decade after he left India and came out to her. Despite this, Aish thinks highly of his mother and even shared a picture of the both of them during Aish’s infancy.

“This is a photo of mother and I, taken in Bilaspur, India in the summer of 1989, when she was finishing her Masters in Literature. I remember typewritten pages everywhere of her thesis on Bengali independence writers and the casual poetry of her conversations during that period of our lives. My fondest memories are from the study breaks she took in the garden, where she’d tell me all about plants and join my make believe world of puppies and bunnies, as in this photo.” – Aish

Aish uses ambient and avant-garde landscapes with drawn-out vocals to help illustrate the messages in his music. He studied voice and composition at schools such as the City College of San Francisco, and his skills are further highlighted at his live shows. Magik*Magik Orchestra and Helen Newby are among his frequent collaborators, and have been special guests on the tour.

“My full ensemble consists of voice, a string quartet, synthesizers, electronic and acoustic percussion, harp and a boy’s choir,” said Aish of his concerts.

Given Aish’s amazing sound and reputation for challenging musical norms, his show will definitely be worth checking out.

Aish
Rickshaw Stop
August 23, 2018
8pm, $10