298: Aron!

Born and raised in North Carolina, Aron Stornaiuolo began his musical life playing guitar, eventually discovering jazz and the American songbook through an 80 year old teacher he met at a music store. He studied classical guitar at the North Carolina School of the Arts and went on to major in jazz guitar and film scoring at the University of Miami. Along the way, he played indie rock, fell in love with Nat King Cole, and even performed in retirement homes.

In early 2023, before heading abroad for a semester in England, he booked time in his college’s recording studio to document a handful of jazz-inspired original songs he had written. The recordings—made quickly and with fellow student musicians—ultimately became cozy you (and other nice songs), his new EP.

The music is disarmingly sophisticated: understated, elegant, and evocative of another era. But it doesn’t feel retro. It feels remarkably assured—rooted in tradition, yet fully at ease in the present moment.

“The issue of how you make this modern, I don’t really think about it too much,” he says. “‘Cause I’m 22. It’s 2025. There’s an aspect that just a young person doing anything is modern.”

That ease extends to Aron!’s online presence, where he began casually posting videos of himself singing standards and originals on piano or guitar. The response was immediate and enthusiastic. Among those who took notice was Ryan Lerman (Scary Pockets), who helped introduce him to a broader circle of musicians and music industry allies. Before long, Aron! was signed to Verve Records, one of the most storied labels in American music history.

cozy you may only be six tracks long, but it announces a clear aesthetic: playful, precise songwriting delivered with soft vocal clarity and subtle arrangements. It draws as much from the American songbook as it does from contemporary influences. He calls it vintage pop.  And while Aron! is not the first to navigate this space—artists like Rachel & Vilray, Madeleine Peyroux, and Andrew Bird (all previous Third Story guests) have walked similar paths—he arrives with a fresh, almost effortless charm.

“I think I just like the air with which people do things [...] the confidence of saying ‘this is what I want to make and this is it’. I think that’s what people are drawn to rather than the actual music,” he muses.

With Aron! at the Verve Records offices in New York, June 2025.

We spoke recently in the offices of Verve Records in New York. Aron was freshly signed, fresh-faced, and slightly stunned. We talked about music, songwriting, identity, social media, and how he’s trying to keep his head on straight in a moment of sudden momentum. He speaks with the humility of someone still trying to catch up to the moment he finds himself in, and with the curiosity of an artist who’s only just getting started.

There’s no telling why this kind of music connects when it does, or how a new artist like Aron can reach millions of people playing songs that sound a hundred years old. But here we are. And ain’t it grand.