American Aquarium Things Change LP

In the lush tobacco fields of North Carolina where BJ Barham was raised, people work hard. Families stay nearby, toiling and growing together. BJ loves those farms and his tiny Reidsville hometown, but he had to run off and start American Aquarium, a band now beloved by thousands. BJ couldn't stay. But he couldn't really leave, either: he's still singing about the lessons, stories, and lives that define rural America––and him.

Recorded at 3CG Records in Tulsa, Oklahoma, American Aquarium's seventh studio album, Things Change, was produced by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Fulbright and features cameos from Americana standouts including John Moreland and Jamie Lin Wilson. Stacked with BJ's signature storytelling—always deeply personal but also instantly relatable—Things Change questions and curses current events, shares one man's intimate evolution, and leaves listeners with a priceless gift: hope.

BJ's candor has fueled American Aquarium's runaway appeal, visible most clearly in consistently sold-out shows across the country and throughout Europe - between 200 and 250 dates a year. Much has changed for the band and BJ since their acclaimed last effort, Wolves. In 2017, every American Aquarium member save BJ quit the group. American Aquarium has featured about 30 players since BJ founded the outfit in 2006, and while each member has left indelible marks, the band has always been anchored by the literary songs and sometimes roaring, sometimes whispering, drawl of BJ Barham. Featuring a new band lineup that includes Shane Boeker on lead guitar, drummer Joey Bybee, bassist Ben Hussey, and Adam Kurtz on pedal steel and electric guitar, as well as a reinvigorated frontman in BJ, Things Change is American Aquarium's first release on a label after selling thousands of records on their own.

An engaging latest chapter in the ever-evolving, consistently compelling storytelling saga of one of this generation's most overlooked roots country singer-songwriters.

Seven studio albums in is about the time you start ignoring a band as the treads wear down and the sound begins to dull. But out of the smoldering ashes of American Aquarium 1.0, this band found its footing, and it is truly something to behold.

All ten tracks stand up as individual compositions with no filler. Producer John Fullbright enables clarity in each track to let the words come to the fore, but with superb musical arrangements, and strong distinction between song styles. It's obvious that a talented new band has formed, especially the gorgeous pedal steel touches.

Things Change will solidify American Aquarium's reputation as one of the leading lights of alt-country... well worth listening to in its entirety without interruption, and is worthy of repeat listens to pick up all its subtleties.