ARO 'A HYMN OF FAITH'

Aro (Charles and Emily Looker) are an amalgamation of stories in song expressing the people, the culture and the land of Aotearoa. Love defines this couple, and their musicianship is their signature.

Charles and Emily met studying music at Auckland University in 2014, and two years later they were married, becoming the ‘Lookers’ and their musical duo, Aro, was born. The pair have both been writing music for several years. Emily,  formerly miss Rice, released her single ‘Moab’ along with her debut EP ‘Find me Here’ in 2015, and followed this release with her Psalm influenced EP ‘A Little Salt’ written and recorded in Berlin.  She was also half of the duo ‘We Stole the Sun’ with Sam Burrows (Fends). Charles has also written numerous songs, some based on Psalms, and often songs that address social issues that he is incredibly passionate about.

The pair are about to release their single ‘A Hymn of Faith’, a song inspired by Habakkuk 3:17-19. The lyrics are simply taken straight from this verse, and they have paired them with an equally rich arrangement and instrumentation. The song takes the listener on a journey, going from a place of acknowledging the fact that it can be really difficult sometimes, but then comes the hope, which is found in the joy of The Lord -“Yet, I will rejoice in The Lord”.

The Lookers have recently released their debut Aro EP (28/07/2017) and are about to head into full time music at the end of 2017. A national summer tour is approaching and they will continue working on their next set of songs which will create the ‘Manu’ Album mid 2018.

This is their first single together, ‘A Hymn of Faith’.

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ARO 'ARO EP'

Aro (Emily Looker) are an amalgamation of stories in song expressing the people, the culture and the land of Aotearoa. Love defines this couple, and their musicianship is their signature.

The pair met studying music at Auckland University in 2014, and two years later the Lookers were married and Aro was born. Before getting hitched, reggae and blues was Charles' rocking chair, jazz and pop was Emily's coffee cup, and now the mix feels like a rocking coffee kick; sometimes mellow, often cheeky, but always a treat!

On July 28th 2017 , they released their debut ‘Aro EP’ , a four track album with “lots of playful aroha from this bicultural pairing of talented musicians”. The release party was held in their very own ‘Looker Nook’ courtyard for family, friends and neighbours. An intimate and dreamy afternoon. The EP was home-recorded, then mastered with Vivek at Gabriel Audio in his homely Mt Roskill Studio. A very DIY style piece of work down to the EP cases which were entirely hand crafted; folded, spray painted and stamped, in the Looker garage.

“Aro are a warm, fun and talented husband/wife duo who have something positive to say through their music, and who value creating an inviting environment for their listeners”. Over the past year the couple have played at Festival One, been part of two national ‘TearFund’ tours, two national tours with ‘Hope Street’, and at numerous intimate venues around the North Island to their growing fan base.

Heading into full time music at the end of 2017, the Lookers are taking off on a national tour of garden and living room gigs, campground pop-up shows and some of their favourite spots such as ‘The Refinery’ in Paeroa, and ‘The Bunker’ and ‘Portland Public House’ in Auckland. Up until then, this Auckland-based combo have gigs booked most weekends and are working on their Manu album, an album inspired by the native birds of New Zealand. The idea for this came one night when they were writing on Maungawhau (Mt Eden) and a tui call inspired the melody of a song for them.

“My favourite thing about music is the space it can create. When I lived in Berlin I fell in love with busking, simply because the stage was taken away and it was just human to human. I shared my songs, my stories, and often people would share with me a bit of theirs. Music is such a powerful tool to connect people, when we’re all in an environment listening and breathing and being together. I have to do this full time because it’s SO on my heart to do, and i’m so glad I have someone who’s on the same buzz as me to partner with - to drop it all and go!” - Emily

Charles is M ā ori and has a huge heart for his people, with dreams to work alongside NZ youth, using music as the tool to connect. The pair have a heart for community, for storytelling and for connecting with people. Before taking their sounds abroad, Aro have decided to make Aotearoa their starting point. 

They are now planning their summer tour- starting with a campground tour around Aotearoa over summer as well as booking venues local to each campground we're playing at! Dates soon to be released on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aromusicao/