Porches

Aaron Maine performs his introspective solo material under the Porches name, a project that has sometimes operated as a complete band. It first surfaced in the early 2010s with an approach rooted in ’90s alternative rock, built around guitars and drums while also incorporating airy electronics and Maine’s distinctly plaintive singing voice. On the follow-up album Pool, issued in 2016, Porches shifted toward somber, expansive, and meticulously crafted synthesizer-based material, though the two aesthetics later converged on the more turbulent fifth album All Day Gentle Hold! in 2021. With Shirt, released in 2024, Maine pushed further into volatile singer/songwriter art grunge. Although the project remains largely self-produced, Maine has worked alongside artists such as Frankie Cosmos, Alex G, Mitski, and Devonté Hynes.

The Porches project originated in 2010 in Maine’s hometown of Pleasantville, New York, after he concluded a brief stint touring with his initial band, Space Ghost Cowboys (first known as Aaron Maine & the Reilly Brothers), and began capturing Casio CA-110 experiments on four-track recorders. Under the Porches name he issued three EPs that year: Summer of Ten, Je T’aime, and Scrap & Love Songs Revisited. He moved to Manhattan the next year. In mid-2013 Exploding in Sound put out Porches’ debut full-length, Slow Dance in the Cosmos, which drew on a more conventional indie-rock palette. The following year he issued an EP under the alias Ronald Paris—pronounced in the French manner—that emphasized atmospheric textures.

After building a substantial audience, especially through shows in the New York City region, Porches joined the Domino roster in 2015. The label released the second album, Pool, in early 2016. Retaining its characteristically subdued mood, the record embraced full-fledged indie electronica. Essentially a home recording by Maine, it was mixed by Chris Coady (Beach House, !!!) and included guest vocals from longtime associate Greta Kline (Frankie Cosmos). The companion EP Water appeared later that year, and Coady again handled mixing duties for the third album, House, in 2017, which featured an expanded cast of contributors that included Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes and Alex Giannascoli (Alex G).

Remaining on Domino, Porches issued Ricky Music in 2020. Co-produced by Jacob Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Blouse), the album included appearances by Mitski, Zsela, and Hynes once more. Returning to pop-punk and grunge influences that were woven into Porches’ established keyboard-and-drum-machine framework, the home-recorded All Day Gentle Hold! arrived in late 2021 with the intention of piercing the tedium of the COVID-19 period. As venues slowly resumed activity, Porches headlined a North American tour before supporting Phoenix at concerts that reached Radio City Music Hall and Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Maine appeared on the Coco & Clair Clair track “Lamb” in late 2022, while Porches’ own “Country” featured on the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla in late 2023.

Porches resurfaced in April 2024 with the tense, guitar-driven single “Rag.” The track previewed the concise, open-ended, grunge-tinged songs that made up the full-length Shirt, issued on Domino that September. Part confessional and part fantastical in its lyrics, the album’s more forceful sound emerged after Maine relocated his recording gear from his apartment into a separate workspace for the first time.