In Focus: Aisles

Today, I am going to boldly go to a place I have never been before, at least in my writings. I have done reviews and/or Spotlight/In Focus articles on artists from five of the six inhabited continents, most are from Europe and North America, of course. I also have one each from Asia (The Hu, from Mongolia) and Africa (Myrath from Tunisia), and one from Australia (Unitopia) on my blog. I have never written about an artist from South America. Until now.

Aisles are a neo-prog band from Chile. They were formed in 2001 by brothers Germán Vergara (guitar, bass, backing vocals) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), along with their childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar, bass, backing vocals, drum programming). By 2002, they had added the Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Alejandro Meléndez (keyboards, drum programming). When seeking a lead vocalist, they didn't have to look any further than the Vergara's younger brother, Sebastián. They did require him to audition, which he passed with flying colours. In addition to his lead vocals, he also plays the flute in the band.

2005: The Yearning

By 2003 the quintet went into the recording studio to record what they intended to be a demo. They were so happy with the outcome, however, that they decided that it would make a suitable debut album. I, for one, certainly agree! While the addition of a live drummer would have been a nice touch, this is a strong debut that truly shows the band's musical talents and songwriting abilities.

Before releasing the album, the album underwent a 10-week long mixing and mastering process. The album, titled The Yearning would finally see release in 2005 and gradually became distributed in South America, the US, Europe, and Japan.

The 11-minute opening epic, The Wharf that Holds His Vessel lets the listener know that right out of the gate that they are hearing a band that was in the game to make an impression. The track contains many neo-prog elements along with South American musical influences. The result is a pleasing blend of familiar and unexpected elements that make for a wonderful listening experience.

The album contains two tracks in the 7 to 8-minute range (Clouds Motion and The Sacre Light Birth) along with three in the 4 to 5-minute range (Uncertain Lights, The Rise of the White Sun, and The Shrill Voice). I particularly enjoyed The Rise of the White Sun, with its melody that is reminiscent of ELO's Telephone Line.

The album closes with a longer epic in the track Grey (16:38) which has three segments — I The Yearning, II Unit Land, and III Path of Gleams. There are some truly wonderful prog moments in this closing track. I like the South American flavour in some of the acoustic instrumental portions. The overall sound of this album is slightly mellow, but there are definitely some more dynamic moments along the way. Sebastián's voice is the standout element on the album, but the instrumental parts are well-done if not flashy.

Following the album's release, Aisles played many live gigs, mainly in their region. Since the guitar players played bass on the first album, Felipe Gonzales was hired as a proper bassist. Additionally, drummer Felipe Candia was also enlisted, eliminating the need for a drum machine.

2007: In Sudden Walks

The now seven-piece band would record the second Aisles album, titled In Sudden Walks, and released in 2009. As I am listening to the closing moments of the 10-minute opener Mariachi, I can tell you that the addition of a live drummer and dedicated bassist really helped to bring Aisles to the next level. Some have criticised the use of Spanish dialogue in that song, but I think that is ridiculous, as that is their native language; why shouldn't they use it? Never fear, though, as the rest of the album is in English.

The shorter but snappy Revolution of Light (4:41) follows, bringing lots of energy and syncopated rhythms. I hesitate to say it, but it seems like it could have been radio-friendly, yet without sacrificing its progressive nature.

Two longer tracks follow: Summer Fall and The Maiden (both between 9 and 10 minutes). The first one has some quieter sections, featuring fretless bass, and has a slight jazz fusion feel in the more upbeat passages. The closing section is extremely quiet. The Maiden begins with a gentle melody on guitars and flute, giving it a more pastoral feel, yet with a distinct Latin flavour. The South American musical influences are particularly strong after the 4-minute mark; it is certainly a standout track!

Another shorter track, the dynamic ballad Smile of Tears follows. The closing epic, Hawaii clocks in at 15 minutes. (This title will come back up later). Apparently it is a science-fiction tale taking place in the year 2300, where after countless wars, 200 humans were selected to colonise another planet, to start over, so to speak. While somewhat mellow, for much of it, the tone of the music matches the sombre storyline.

Overall, the album is a big leap forward from the debut and helped bring them more international recognition. They were the only South American act to play the Crescendo Prog-Rock festival in France in 2010. In late 2010, however, founding keyboardist Luis Vergara left the band, citing “Musical Differences”.

2013: 4:45 AM

By their third album, 4:45 AM, released in 2013, the band had also replaced bassist Felipe Gonzales with Daniel Baird-Kerr, who is Chilean, despite the non-Hispanic name. This brings the line-up back to six members as follows:

• Daniel Baird-Kerr - bass
• Felipe Candia - drums and percussion
• Alejandro Meléndez - keyboards
• Rodrigo Sepúlveda - guitars and vocals
• Germán Vergara - guitars, vocals and keyboards
• Sebastián Vergara - lead vocals

With guests: - Constanza Maulén - vocals (Tracks 1, 3, 8) - Alejandro Barría - cello (5, 8, 9) - Nelson Arriagada - contrabass (5, 8, 9) - Valentina Maza - viola (5, 8, 9) - David Nunez - first violin (5, 8, 9) - Diana Brown - second violin (5, 8, 9) - Chris Trout, Nicoló Rossi, Trinhity Tran - voice actors (DJs) (3) - Soraya Castillo - voice actor (mom and kid) (2, 10)

The album is a loose concept album. According to guitarist Germán Vergara the concept is "about darkness and light, about twilight at the edge of the night before daybreak" and "being together in chaos". The first seven of the ten tracks all clock in at under 5:10, but are well-composed and arranged, making them highly engaging. I think the opening title track is quite strong, and I particularly like Back My Strength, with its harmonised lead guitar parts.

The Sacrifice starts quietly but builds up nicely toward the end. The instrumental track Intermission builds slowly and shows some Pink Floyd influence in its psychedelic prog flavour. That leads us to the three longer tracks that close the album. Sorrow (6:57) is another slow-burn, with nice vocal harmonies; your patience will be rewarded! Sebastián Vergara occasionally reminds me of Steve Hogarth of Marillion in his dynamics and tone, albeit with a Chilean accent. Hero (8:11), which is also fully instrumental, follows and continues the atmospheric feel of the album at the start, but really builds into an extravaganza of great playing. There are even “stacked guitar harmonies” à la Brian May at around 6:30. The closing epic, Melancholia (10:41) also takes its time developing but pays off nicely.

This album shows their continued development as a band through its thematic approach and highlighting their instrumental abilities. The album also helped further their presence as an internationally recognised band, as the title track was included on a Prog Magazine sampler CD that year. Additionally, a German magazine called Breakout listed the album as one of the top 5 neo-prog albums of the year.

Shortly before they began to perform live shows to promote the album, keyboardist Alejandro Meléndez left the band to be replaced by a friend of his, Juan Pablo Gaete.

2016: Hawaii

Album #4, Hawaii (I told you it'd be back), is Aisles' magnum opus thus far. Released in 2016, it is a double CD of some 80 minutes, building on the concept from the album closer of 2009's In Sudden Walks, with humans colonising alien planets. Hawaii is apparently the name of the spaceship.

The opening track The Poet, Part I: Dusk (10:06) is a high-energy slice of prog with dynamic rhythms and an upbeat tempo. Its companion, The Poet, Part II: New World is quite the opposite in its quiet, peaceful, contemplative approach that slowly builds to a high-note crescendo at around 3 minutes. The tempo picks up at the end of the track with a fusion feel.

It moves directly into the explosion sound effect that starts Year Zero (4:36) (not to be confused with the Ghost song of the same name). Once the dust from the explosion clears, the first part of the song is gentle, but about halfway through, a rhythmic synth pulse takes over with somewhat random instrumental bits over the top of it. The synth pulse reminds me a little of the Alan Parsons Project.

A standout track is Upside Down. With its beautiful piano parts, great melodies, and harmony guitar parts. The longest track CH-7 (12:33) follows, which begins with an unusual slide guitar part that continues as a theme throughout the first half of the song. At about 8:30 a great instrumental section begins. Then after 11 minutes, the rhythm does a double-time. This is a very cool epic.

The way in which Terra (8:03) and Pale Blue Dot (9:55) connect, they almost make for a 20-minute side-long epic. The more I listen, I feel like the closest comparison is H era Marillion, but they definitely have their Chilean influences.

Two shorter tracks, Still Alive and Nostalgia, take us up to what seems to be a fan favorite, Club Hawaii (9:22). This begins with some acted dialogue, after which there is a great odd metered keyboard-led segment. A vocal part follows with some unusual character voices alongside Sebastián's incredible vocals. And that ending! This may be one of the proggiest songs in the catalogue, and it is truly unique; one of my favorite tracks of theirs. Following that, Falling (2:11) and In the Probe (6:55) close this amazing concept album out.

In 2018, Aisles had a major turning point when Sebastián Vergara left the band. While no clear reasons have been given, his brother/band guitarist Germán Vergara has described the situation as a significant "crisis" and a "brutal turning point" for the group. It would be 2020 before a new singer, Israel Gil was announced. Additionally, at some point during the seven years between Hawaii and the next album, Daniel Baird-Kerr started using his middle name of Concha instead of Baird-Kerr (in other words, he is now known as Daniel Concha). During this hiatus and time of transition for the band, three live albums were released: Live From Estudio Del Sur (2018) , Rockaxis' Señal en Vivo (2020) and Camden Assembly, London October 30, 2016 Live Bootleg #1 (2022) , along with several singles, some of which ended up on the upcoming album.

2023: Beyond Drama

The fifth Aisles album finally saw the light of day in 2023. It is aptly titled Beyond Drama. Israel Gil's voice seems to be in the same range as Sebastián's, his accent is slightly more prominent and has a harder edge to it. This is clear in album opener Fast (4:38), which indeed matches its title. This is a rocking opener, with all sorts of prog fiddle-faddles that we love. Felipe Candia really stands out on drums.

Megalomania (6:25) has an almost “techno” feel in the intro, but rocks hard as the song develops. I have to say, however, that Gil's voice doesn't quite work for me on Thanks to Kafka (4:18). It works better on the hard rocking Disobedience (7:18). As I am listening to this latest album, while many of the songs are good, they seem to have dropped the Chilean/South American influences in favour of heavy prog sound. I don't know if that is intentional, but I kind of miss it as it made them stand out. The playing is insanely good, no doubt, but it's missing some character of the earlier work. The song Time (A Conversation With My Therapist), however, does seem to work with Gil's voice, and I really enjoy it.

The longest track on the album is The Plague (11:06), which has its moments. Surrender (6:44) is a ballad with some nice jazzy piano chords. The short Needsun (2:09) is actually one of the more interesting pieces on the album. The appropriately titled Game Over (6:28) is an instrumental which closes the album with some great syncopated rhythms mixed with some soundscapes; it's one of the stronger tracks on the album.

The album feels like what it is — a transition. It felt like they were trying to find themselves with a new singer, and there were some mixed results, but overall the album is good, just maybe not quite to the level of earlier efforts.

2023: Bahamut

Also released in 2023, a few months after Beyond Drama, the band released a 13-minute suite in seven movements called Bahamut as a stand alone. The piece is based on a science fiction novel of the same name by author Francisco Ortega. I really like it! It has some creative playing and sounds on it. Interestingly, the suite is 100% instrumental, recorded without Gil.

In fact, it seems that Israel Gil only appears on Beyond Drama. The band have released several singles in the past three years, many with a different vocalist than the one prior to it. As of the 2024 single, La Conquistadora (4:49) , original guitarist Rodrigo Sepulveda, is absent from then on. However, beginning with 2024's The Dream (4:32) , the band seems to have settled on Boris Seeder as their vocalist. They have released two more singles with him on the mic: 2025's Blue Skies (5:04) , and 2026's Now Is the Time (4:00) , on which a new drummer, Álvaro Poblete, has replaced longtime drummer Felipe Candia.

I do have the two most recent ones in my library. Boris sounds strong on Blue Skies, and Now is the Time has a huge chorus. Hopefully, Aisles have found some stability in the line-up for the first time since Sebastián Vergara's departure. I feel like they still have a lot to offer.

Conclusion

In fact, right about the time that I submitted this article to DPRP, they dropped another single titled Lobsters and Ants which maintains the stable line up. Oh my, does this song rock! At the very least, it's heavy prog, if not prog-metal.

Of special interest to prog fans in the Netherlands and Germany is the fact that it was just announced that Aisles will be featured at “The Northern Prog Festival” (NPF 2026) in October 2026. This is their first appearance in The Netherlands for a decade. This is held in the city of Leeuwarden, in the north of the country, so not too far for people living in north-west Germany either.

My overall conclusions about Aisles are that the first four albums with Sebastián Vergara are the ones to start with. The earlier work does seem to showcase more of the Chilean culture behind their music. I am not suggesting that the music following his exit from the band isn't good, because it is quite good indeed! They just seemed to be in a state of flux for a few years, finding the right pieces of the puzzle to make their new identity as a band. They seemed to have found it with Boris Seeder as the new vocalist. Fans of neo-prog bands like Marillion, IQ, and Arena should check them out!