Heatbox

Hilarious & Epically Legendary

Self-Released, 2023

8/10

Listen to Hilarious & Epically Legendary

An artist with many talents, Aaron ‘Heatbox’ Heaton pens a musical comedy here, where his hip-hop roots are very much intact, and welcomes help on brass, strings and guitars.

“Bad Internet Friend” opens the listen with some funky, soulful flavor, as warm EWI from Maxaphone complements the playful singing that addresses the lack of social media etiquette from Heatbox, and “Beige” follows with bright horns alongside plenty of soothing backing vocals that cleverly discusses a house without color.

Further on, the spacey “Piece Of Ship” segues into dance floor ready grooves that benefit from Patrick Nelson’s bouncy bass and Heatbox’s impressive range, while the powerful, R&B influenced “I Bought A Bat” lets us know that instead of learning to fight, he picked up a bat to combat bad guys.

Landing near the end, “Log Jammin” flows with falsetto singing and pretty backing vocals amid synthetic drums and a dreamy demeanor, and “Zipper Merge” exits with booming brass and plenty of ‘70s soft-rock melodies floating around the breezy finish.

A record that will make you laugh out loud on more than one occasion, Heatbox may not take himself too serious, but his music is seriously fun to listen to.

Travels well with: Jojo Green- The Summer Tree; Madeline Rosene- Everyday Existential Crisis