It looks like Aaron Embry has been floating just beneath my radar for years: producing Avi Buffalo’s debut, performing in the evolving lineup of Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and — in the most unforgivably overlooked collaboration — playing keyboard on Elliott Smith’s “Pretty (Ugly Before)” single. That song, as any fellow Smith obsessive might point out, was one of the last tracks he put the finishing touches on and approved for release in his life. Regardless, it’s a gorgeously heartbreaking tune and so, as it turns out, is Embry’s own material. To wit, here’s a live clip of the L.A. songwriter unveiling an indelible new solo cut this month.
