The experience was church for some fans, who sang along with closed eyes and clutched fists. Rather, he suggests an existential problem in man’s selfishness, and releases the meaning behind our most petty fears.Īndy Shauf | photo by Paige Walter for WXPNĪt Union Transfer, the quiet peace on the record spread through the hushed crowd. Despite his references to the heavens, there’s nothing holier-than-thou about Shauf’s writing. In the opening track, Shauf poses a despondent conversation between God and Jesus, wondering out loud if the creator’s love is wasted on characters like Norm. In Norm, Shauf tells the story of his alter-ego, just a normie, too afraid to approach his crush, too boggled down by weed to keep his memories straight, and too ignorant to acknowledge he’s part of God’s plan. There was even a wafting scent of lilacs and fresh-brewed tea permeating the music hall, if I wasn’t just imagining it. The Canadian singer-songwriter, known in the super-soft circles of the acoustic indie world for over a decade now, performed from his latest concept album Norm. Mirroring the lush themes on the record, Shauf decorated the stage with crawling vines, a soft purple hue, and dappled spotlights. At once narrators and investigators, we fill in the blanks.Andy Shauf was in town last Friday to play Union Transfer with special guest Marina Allen. He's assigned that task to us, the listeners. But Shauf has realized he doesn't need to moralize. With Norm, he recreated his idea of a concept album, and also made it about faith and fatalism. The accompanying video, directed by V Haddad and written by Shauf, is a playful depiction of God (played by Lauren Servideo) and Jesus, once again presenting the duality in Shauf’s music.Īfter gaining indie notoriety with The Party and a Polaris Music Prize nomination, performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and CBS This Morning: Saturday, and praise from the likes of Pitchfork, ESQUIRE, NPR Music, Stereogum, The Atlantic and beyond for The Neon Skyline, Shauf has left the realm of things he’s known on his third album, pivoting away from the semi-autobiographical, and pushing himself to grow as a songwriter in an entirely different way. The questions continue, and his final query - “ Was all my love wasted on you?” - hangs in the air, with subtle percussion, tender guitar, and synths escorting the song out. “ What happens when they die?” Shauf begins the record by asking. While at first listen, a love song, Shauf grapples with death and the legacies left behind in its wake. “Wasted On You” doubles as Norm’s lead single and opening track, a lilting pop introduction with r&b cadences and dreamy textures. "But the closer you pay attention to the record, the more you're going to realize that it's sinister." "The character of Norm is introduced in a really nice way," Shauf says of the pleasant songs that precede the album's centerpiece. He even rewrote all of the album’s original lyrics, recreating the story, and enlisting Nicholas Olson as a story editor – it was only after writing the title track that Shauf decided to build a narrative around the character Norm. Shauf recruited Neal Pogue (Tyler, the Creator, Janelle Monae, Outkast), a prodigious shaper of genre-and-time-defying tracks, to mix the album, further building on the gently levitating, synth-laden atmospherics.ĭuring this period, he was captivated by David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, which seemed to validate Shauf’s instinct to mix perspectives and tinker with shadowy narratives. Shauf’s goals were uncomplicated: create something melody-driven rather than chord-driven, and make it modern. The latter was essential to creating the more spacious and tactile sounds he sought. He sequestered himself in his garage studio, self-producing and playing every instrument on Norm, a collection of more conventional songs written predominantly on guitar, piano and synths. Shauf had planned to be touring around The Neon Skyline but, like many of us in the early days of the pandemic, he spent a lot of time alone instead. Under the guise of an intoxicating collection of jazz-inflected romantic ballads, his storytelling has become decidedly more oblique, hinting at ominous situations and dark motivations. With Norm, however, Shauf has slyly deconstructed and reshaped the style for which he’s been celebrated, elevating his songwriting with intricate layers and perspectives, challenging himself to find a new direction. Today, Andy Shauf announces his new album, Norm, out February 10th on ANTI-, and presents its lead single/video, “ Wasted On You.” Hailed as “a gifted storyteller” ( NPR Music) for 2016’s The Party and 2020’s The Neon Skyline, Shauf writes albums that unfold like short fiction, full of colorful characters, fine details and a rich emotional depth.
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