Guitar virtuoso Aaron Lebos is at it again with his latest release 141 Layers of Ikigai. The album was composed and recorded over the last year. The recording realizes Aaron’s signature funk-progressive-rock sound, highlighting some of Miami’s finest musicians and complimenting his unique style of guitar playing.
Deeply rooted in the South Florida musical landscape, Aaron has been first call for session and performance work for the last two decades because of his versatility and ease in any genre. All the while he has continued to develop his original music and toured the SE and East coast with his band Aaron Lebos Reality. 141 Layers of Ikigai is his fifth independent release. The album features an outstanding lineup of musicians including Andres Ferret on bass and Armando Lopez on drums. Other guest appearances come from drummer Dave Chiverton, bassist Eric England, keyboardist Pete Wallace, percussionist Brian Potts, and keyboardist Jason Matthews.
In a recent interview, Aaron reflects on the making of this album. “It required the most perseverance and overall effort to complete because I aimed to take this record to a higher level than any of my previous recordings”. He spent a good deal of time going back and re-recording different instruments and songs. He had found more pocket, and stronger drums. He also ventured into including more ambient and progressive keyboard textures. This lead to better guitar tones overall. Looking back he felt “it was absolutely necessary to restart the recording process and sometimes take a step back to go two steps forward”.
The band has appeared at the Purple Hatters Ball, Virginia Key Grassroots Festival, iii Points Festival, Suwannee’s Hullaween Festival, and has opened for great talent including Mark Lettieri, Tauk, Big Voodoo Daddy, New Master Sounds, Christian Scott, The Mantras, Holly Bowling, Joe Marcinek Band, Marbin, Tim Reynolds and more.
141 Layers of Ikigai was released this September on all digital formats.
