When Aidan Ochre heard that Steve Lacy, his music idol from the rhythm and blues band “The Internet,” recorded his own original music on computer software, Ochre realized that he could do it, too. From that moment on, he was hooked. 

“I saw some things about him saying he made music with GarageBand app on his iPhone,” Ochre said. “So, then I thought that, ‘Oh, if he can make music on GarageBand, maybe I should try that because I also have GarageBand.’”   

After releasing his first song on SoundCloud in 2017, Ochre worked his way up to 207.9 thousand streams and 54.9 thousand followers on Spotify in 2019.  

Ochre will be performing at Reneprom, a formal launch party for Renegade Magazine’s fall “Feel Good” edition, on Jan. 25 at the Community Folk Art Center in Syracuse. Other performers include Outlaws Dance Troupe, Gianni, Lloyd Ansah and Chelly.  

A junior in the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries, Aidan Brown, who uses the alias Aidan Ochre for his musical career, grew up in Wellsville, New York. 

Throughout his childhood, Ochre was greatly influenced by his parents’ love for music, especially their affection for jazz, Brazilian and reggae music. But it wasn’t until he got his older sister’s iPod in high school that he adopted her affinity for indie rock and pop, the genre that is closest to the music he puts out to his listeners now.  

“I physically inherited her musical taste,” Ochre said. 

Although Ochre was exposed to music from a young age, he didn’t get into making music until he taught himself how to play guitar at the age of 14. Ochre said he quickly got bored of learning chords and progressed to practicing his favorite songs in order to enhance his guitar skills.  

When Ochre was 16, his parents gave him an amplifier that had a built-in USB interface in order to record songs. They also gifted him a basic MIDI drum pad recorder, which produces artificial drum beats. 

The music that Ochre releases now has been categorized as “bedroom pop,” a genre that refers to artists that record music at home with their own equipment. Due to the negative connotations that associate this genre with amateurism, Ochre is trying to move away from that categorization and create music that is considered to be more indie.  

“As time has gone on, putting out things has become more nerve-wracking because there’s more of a pressure to adhere to certain sounds and cater to an audience,” he said.  

The first songs Ochre released on SoundCloud were not intended for an audience. He didn’t tell any of his high school peers about the music he was creating at first. Instead, he turned to Twitter to find a group of up-and-coming singer-songwriters and began to publicize his music. 

The growth that he has seen and the support he has received from artists he interacts with on Twitter has created a very strong community for Ochre.  

Many of the friends he has made on Twitter have supported and tweeted about his work. He also has received many shout-outs from various musical blogs, such as Lyrical Lemonade, a website which shares music from new artists.  

A writer for Lyrical Lemonade, Elliot Montanez, recommended Ochre’s track “Tease” to his readers.  

“Typically, I spend most of my time writing on our website finding the newest upcoming talent, mainly in hip-hop,” Montanez said. “But whenever I hear a record and enjoy it, I share it with our audience regardless of the genre. And Aidan’s new record is truly magnificent.”  

When creating music, Ochre first focuses on the sound and adds in the lyrics later, in order to maintain an enticing instrumental aspect to his work. Ochre said that for him, the sonic component of music has always been the most interesting part of a song rather than the lyrics, Ochre said.  

Ochre’s latest song is entitled “Weightless,” and details the exciting feeling of being with someone that you have romantic feelings for.  

To create the song, he worked with artist Baby Bari. Ochre direct messaged the singer and producer from Naples, Florida on Instagram. Soon after, he was mixing and mastering Ochre’s song. 

“It’s still one of my favorite mixes I’ve done,” Bari said. 

In 2019, Ochre performed live for the first time on campus, overcoming his stage fright. When he got on stage and connected with the crowd, his nerves went away, he said.  

Since then, he has performed at various venues, including Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, where he opened for the R&B artist Rence. The brunch venue provides rising artists with a platform to perform live music.   

“It definitely gave me a couple new fans in the New York area, but it was just a cool experience to perform on that stage that I’ve seen artists perform on before,” Ochre said.  

Ochre plans to continue to produce music and learn about the music industry through the Bandier program. He hopes that in the future he will be able to support himself as a full-time artist. 

“If being an artist doesn’t happen to be a possible career path,” Ochre said, “I’ll still be working with music in the end because that’s the most important to me: to be close to something I am passionate about.”  

Published on January 22, 2020 at 12:08 am

Contact Sydney: sabergan@syr.edu