Andy Shauf has a lot to celebrate at the moment, not only is he opening for The Lumineers in Europe this coming April and May, he also has a new album about to unleash itself on the world.
After a start as a DIY venue acoustic troubadour, last years debut album, The Bearer of Bad News, was hailed by NPR as “
“2015’s most breathtaking albums” and “an appropriately titled collection of mostly grim tales about small town drug addicts, murderous lovers and other weary underachievers.”
This sophomore follow up, The Party, continues to narrate the small town existence of diverse characters
They show up “Early to the Party,” reveal secrets (“To You”) or try to reveal nothing (“The Magician”). In “a city the size of a dinner plate,” everyone knew the guy who keeled over after smoking what he promised would be his last pack of cigarettes (“Alexander All Alone”). There’s the girl dancing by herself in the middle of the room, with the “Eyes of Them All” upon her. One moment you’re dancing with someone who bears an uncanny resemblance to your ex (“Martha Sways”), and later slagging your best friend as way of endearing yourself to his recently dumped ex (“Quite Like You”).
[…] to the pure on this powerful and personal track, between the bewitching folk of Aldous Harding or Andy Shauf, the modern accents of Big Thief, and the formal freedom of […]