Breedlove recently signed Dani Vargas of Aerial Visions, an instrumental acoustic duo formed in 2015 by guitarists Danilo Vargas and Travis Lee Stephenson. Drawing from diverse stylistic approaches, Dani and Travis bring a unique take to the modern acoustic sound. Their debut album, City Life, introduces eleven original compositions demonstrating technical proficiency, canorous melodies, and harmonic maturity. The feel is often dark and introspective, yet uplifting, by virtue of the beauty and honesty that so naturally accompany the acoustic guitar. The seasoned artistry displayed by Aerial Visions is complex yet accessible, inviting listeners of all walks of life into a dynamic musical experience. We recently had the pleasure to chat with Dani and ask a few questions about his playing style, song writing and his Breedlove acoustic guitar:
Breedlove: When did you start playing music and how did you create or form your “style” of playing?
Dani: As a duo, we started playing music together about 7 ago, and started to take it a little more serious starting about 2 years ago. We been playing electric for twenty years or so and acoustic for eight, and since we picked it up, have always been inclined to make arrangements of our favorite tunes for acoustic solo guitar. Quite a bit of our electric playing and writing incorporates elements of pop, classical, jazz and blues all the way to heavy metal. I think all of those elements are reflect in what we bring to Aerial Visions. We decided to write strong melodic songs for two guitars and it has been a very comfortable, natural and smooth process of writing and performing.
Breedlove: Tell me a little about the song writing process? Your music looks or hears really complex, does it take a long time to write and master each track? What's the song writing process look like?
Dani: It is actually really simple; either Travis or myself have a really basic riff or melodic line, and if one of us hears it and says 'that's cool, let's write a song from that'.. we continue to work on it and create a full track. The process is usually really fast. We tend to feed each other ideas and have a clear understanding of which aspects of the sound or song should be kept, and which parts to drop or move away from. To master a track, it all comes down to practice and mastery of our individual parts separately. Then, we get together and fine tune the song together.
Breedlove: Which guitar are you playing? It looks like it has some custom work? Tell me more?
Dani: My Breedlove is a Discovery Concert CE. It does indeed have some custom work. I took off the finish, sanded it and varnished it, then I added 3 microphones under the bridge, so I have the piezo pickup and the 3 mic pickup!
The duo recently released a new album called Writings in the Sky. Check out their website (link below) for more information.
If you'd like to hear the group perform live this summer in California, click here to view a full list of performances.
The track Death Valley (posted above) features the duo ripping on dueling guitars in their trademark style. We hope you enjoy their music as much as we do!
