Aer

Denver became the first city in the United States to legalize the selling of marijuanaa little more than three weeks ago.

For rather obvious reasons, this thought came to mind as I listened to the debut album “The Bright Side” by the Massachusetts-born rap duo Aer last week. “Good kush in my pockets / Chicks at my spot be the hottest / Air Max under my new corduroys / Neighbors telling me to turn down the noise,” David von Mering raps in “Kush in My Pockets.”

As much as booze, the hard life and beautiful women, marijuana use is a staple of rap — the utilitarian symbol of chill-out, a designation of protest against the overly-regulated, overly-capitalized world — most rap ironizes, parodies and, occasionally, laments.

But these lyrics came from 2012, back when marijuana legalization was still the murmur of the municipalities and not the buzz of the students.

Aer, practically their same college-age selves who had managed to forge a promising career out of a small university music website, had found pristine middle ground between reggae rock and rap, which had been all but monopolized by California big shots like Sublime, Pepper and the Expendables.

The lyrics, like the marijuana, were clichés, but Aer was working with what it knew, and it had enough style to pull it off. It was also working with what had worked in the past.

So what happens when the marijuana begins to be accepted society? When rappers blew their smoke rings in the faces of their critics, the gesture implied an idea of protest. Will the relationship continue to work in the liberalized 2014?

Aer, on their self-titled album, does not attempt to look so far into the future. Most of the album is backwards looking; though, to be fair, there is substance behind the lyrics. The two, mostly von Mering, are gifted at speed rapping — able to pellet lyrics with enough vocalization they still convey emotion — and this speed is juxtaposed well with broad choruses.

“If sleeping home alone means I’m on my way, / Then you and I should call it a day,” goes the opening track, “Spades, Clubs, & Diamonds” the speed of the lyric matched with the force of enunciation before von Mering sobers with the chorus, “Put these cards out on a table, / That’s the best that a man should know, / Thought I had chance but I read it wrong.”

Unfortunately, this is about the sum of Aer’s perspective. What remains after creation is variation. “I’m Not Sorry”, decidedly reggae, jabs at an unfaithful ex and does little else other than continuously not make apologies about it.

“Sincerely,” which attempts, and fails, to reconcile the same general theme — people who do one thing and say another — lapses into motivational-refrigerator-magnet-mantra: “If you want something grab it, if you have a beat stab it, / Shitload a legwork not just livin’ lash,” and, inadvertently, self-congratulation that is no where near flamboyantly egotistic enough to be justified.  

“Ex” is pure Sublime in its acoustic riffs, but it treats the theme tiredly, contrasting bodily lust with bad decisions and arriving at a revelation that doesn’t yield anything better than “temporary satisfaction” and “vicious cycle.”

Nevertheless, when it wants to, the duo can record something truly memorable: something that boasts style and distinction.

“Won’t Laugh,” the album’s strongest title, is also the song in which Aer finally recognizes their transition from college band mates to professionals. The lyrics typify this change. They open unimaginatively, thematically weightless: “I got tattoos, so people think I’m cool / Oh college, I’m better than school / And I smoke pot, it’s the only thing I do.”

The beat is excellent, minimal, but tight, lightly syncopated and obviously inspired by indie rock and electronic. Interestingly, it doesn’t build, but it glides and lets the lyrics search for their originality.

Aer is capable of small revelations when its scope allows the listener the perspective of the small people, the regrets that haven’t been cleared up, the fears of what comes next rather than mess it up with sentiments that don’t belong.

Egotism and bad girlfriends fog and muddle a perspective that’s otherwise sobering and open when it’s being honest.