Details on Aaron Hemphill’s debut album have surfaced today. Scented Pictures is set to come out April 6th via Mute. He is planning on releasing the record under the name Nonpareils and includes Hemphill’s first recordings since his departure from Liars back in 2016.

Hemphill explains, “Basically I wanted a name that didn’t evoke a single person or a producer name, but hopefully something that sounded more like a group or a band… something plural. ‘The Timeless Now’ feels like the most distilled track to communicate this intended illusion.” 

Hemphill came up with the idea of putting a new name on the record when completed. To him, it sounded like an album created by a group instead of a single person. So he came up with the name Nonpareils (pronounced “non-perils” in American-English.) The term refers to candy dots often sprinkled onto cheap candy – “to make it more exciting” as Hemphill says. Notably, the French translation of nonpareil is “unparalleled,” “which I found quite nice for such a cheap candy,” jokes Hemphill. The album cover even has hints of the candy spots splattered across it as thrown haphazardly.

Scented Pictures was recorded in Berlin and include songs directly inspired by concepts relating to memories, or more accurately the sensory experience of memory. Creating the record, Hemphill did some interesting things. He recording stacks of acoustic instruments while, in his words, “doing the silliest things.” He played drums without click tracks, encouraged his engineer to distract him, and played the piano while allowing poorly set-up microphones to fall away from the body of the instrument. By the end of it, the sound grew into something more significant which will no doubt be showcased on the record.

Scented Pictures Tracklist:
1. I Can’t Feel The Freeze Or Fade (Intro)
2. The Timeless Now
3. Cherry Cola
4. Ditchglass, They Think
5. Invisible Jets
6. Makes Me Miss The Misery Girls
7. Scented Pictures
8. Press Play
9. The Fever That Goes Up And Down
10. Fast Hat, Main Hat
11. Most Boys

Listen to the first track, “The Timeless Now,” below and preorder Scented Pictures here.

Photo credit by Raymond Flotat