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Photo: Joe Perri

Released just in time for his 21st birthday, aldn sheds new skin with his alt-rock EP good grief, comprised of seven tracks that explore the seven stages of mourning.

Where does all of our angst go when it's suddenly summertime and we're burdened with feigning a glee we don't feel? Well, good grief is a safe haven for those that reject facade, straying from surface-level ambition to delve into themes of addiction, isolation, and of course, heartbreak.

aldn's young age doesn't dilute the rawness of his art, with "bargaining" painting a very vivid picture of self-destruction, and "do or die" confronting the reality of self-medicating. He isn't glorifying drug abuse, he's just being honest about it.

Writing and co-producing all seven tracks, you can hear remnants of aldn's influences, from The Cure to Radiohead. Live instrumentation is at the forefront of this project, and though he was already well-regarded as a producer, aldn is still introducing us to aldn. This EP is as intimate as we've been able to get, both lyrically and musically, and it's difficult to not be left impressed.

With support from artists and friends carolesdaughter and Verzache, good grief is proof that grief really can be good. That we can choose to demonize ourselves for our own inner terror or we can process it into something beautiful. With the project safely landing at "acceptance," we learn that if we acknowledge our dread, we can begin to befriend it, and maybe even miss it a bit when we both eventually move on.

Listen to good grief  below: