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Kyle Andrews

Nashville, TN

About

"If people saw the space I recorded in, they would laugh," admits Nashville pop wizard Kyle Andrews. Crafted mostly in the comfort of his own home, and at his parents' place in Chicago, the DIY maestro's second full-length Real Blasty is a marvel: crisp, quirky, studio-quality pop recorded using little more than a laptop. Meet the future of the music industry.

Andrews grew up in the Chicago suburbs and moved to Nashville hoping to find a place where people didn't look at him funny when he said he wanted to make records. His debut Amos in Ohio was an expert piece of whimsical melancholia that perfectly married the acoustic appeal of indie singer-songwriter fare with unexpected electronic elements. After a limited release on local indie Ficticious, Amos was given a facelift and re-released by Badman Recordings (early My Morning Jacket, Mark Kozelek). Following on the heals of the exquisitely sad little stripped-down EP Find Love, Let Go (also released by Badman), Real Blasty takes Andrews' homespun tunes to a happier place--the words still tell their fair share of sad tales, but the sound is brighter, dancier and crackles with more mature technical dexterity. Andrews decided to release his latest independently, relying on his own imprint, Elephant Lady Records.

Real Blasty opens with "Sushi," a song Andrews has been toying with for years. Here, it receives its most glammed-up treatment to date, devolving into a fuzzed-out club track as the emotional intensity ratchets up and he implores the object of his affection, "You gonna save me or not?" The irresistible, synth-heavy "Naked in New York" adds a slight edge to the proceedings, as waves of noise crash and recede, revealing a narrator desperate to hang onto an unstable woman. "Polar Bear" tackles life on the road and the people you can't take with you. The ramped-up, guitar-driven "A Constant Wavering Between the Real and the Abstract" gets apocalyptic about love, asserting "Everything special fades away / all hearts will be erased." And on the lighter side, standouts "Put Your Hands Up" and "Call and Fade" channel vintage anthemic pop, allowing Andrews to show off his ample skill with pretty melodies and infectious choruses.

Final track "Bus" is as close as we get to Amos' Andrews, as piano and acoustic guitar accompany the wistful four-line refrain. But as the song progresses, more and more instruments join the party and things start to get dissonant. The words stay the same, but the end feels nothing like the beginning--could there be a more perfect musical metaphor for a breakup?

In between the flurry of releases, Nashville's ever-prolific pop maestro has also found time to open for Peter, Bjorn and John and tour with Josh Rouse; Andrews was also asked to contribute an original song to a recent Crown Royal ad campaign. In addition, the soft-spoken songsmith has managed to reinvent himself as a performer--shedding the introverted acoustic incarnation while experimenting with new methods for translating his glitchy, dynamic songs to the stage.

Whatever modest approaches Kyle takes to get his music across, one thing is for certain; it's always a pleasure to eavesdrop in for a listen to what's next.

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