HE’S one of those gorgeous, nuanced, baroque-pop songwriters we could all do with spending a lot more time with, is Andy Shauf.
Like fellow countryman Patrick Watson, he has this way with a beautiful pop arrangement that for me puts him firmly in a lineage that stretches back to The Left Banke and Emitt Rhodes: people who really know how to draw the sweetest melodicism of a tune, without feeling like he has to stand atop a table and scream it. He’s over there being quietly adored by those who know.
If you haven’t heard his recent debut full-length release for Anti-, The Neon Skyline, you’re missing out on some just lovely, occasionally whimsical, romantic, beautifully-arranged tunesmithery.
And he’s just released two tracks that didn’t quite make the cut for The Neon Skyline, “Judy” and “Jeremy’s Wedding”. Check out “Judy” below.
“‘Judy’ and ‘Jeremy’s Wedding’ were outliers to the narrative of the album,” Andy said. “They fit a little bit outside the timeline, as I was trying to keep everything to a single night.
“They were also slightly different, arrangement-wise, so I decided that they might be best released together, apart from the album.”
Both tracks came out on a strictly limited 7″ which, je suis désolée, seemed to have sold like the hottest of cakes; I can’t find one anywhere, so I count myself among those whose feel a little désolée.
Still, happily, you can still pick up the two tracks digitally over at Andy’s Bandcamp, where he’ll also happily vend you the wax of his three previous albums: The Neon Skyline, The Party, and The Bearer Of Bad News. These are three very good things indeed in a world going a little bit off in the back of the fridge.
You can also find Andy on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
