Author: Kerr, Aaron

Aaron Kerr lives in St. Paul, MN and has played cello for about 25 years.

In that time he has become renowned for his atypical cello playing styles and ability to improvise and create in any situation.

He lists an equal amount of rock guitarists as he does classical composers for influences, and has found ways to fuse the two genres into a new fresh sound that one would not normally think would emanate from a classical instrument.

Aaron has played in many bands and ensembles over the years, and picked up a few awards along the way. In 2006, Aaron recorded his first solo CD titled, "Arco 71," and subsequently received a McKnight Foundation Music Fellowship for his efforts.

Wanting to build on the momentum of this, Aaron conceptualized and wrote material for a new CD in 2008 and began recording what would become "Dissonant Creatures."

The original plan was to have 10 minimalist pieces written for cello and piano with a large gap in the middle of the song for a performer to improvise through in a live situation.

What happened in the end though was that Aaron gave his recordings to his musician friends, Jeff Crandall and Tyson Allison. These two play together in a group called Swallows, and they immediately had strange and otherworldly ideas come to mind to accompany Aaron's music.

They suggested letting them do some recording over his pieces, and Aaron agreed to see what would develop. The end product is what you hear now -- dark-textured, rhythmic ambient music with a flair for gothic and avant-garde undertones.

No idea was thrown out until tried, and every experimental door that was opened led down a crooked hallway to yet another door and another door until it eventually opened to the weird and wonderful world of which this CD now exists.