Thanks so much to Mike for writing this, and my apologies for taking so long to finally post it here!
Justin Andrew makes music for a very specific time and place. That
could be a different time and place for everyone, but it's likely to be
the kind of crevice in the day where you haven't imagined listening to
music before. Early in the morning. Middle of the night. At the end of
a long day.
The reason you may want to fill these normally-quiet
interludes with Andrew's folk acoustic tunes is twofold. First, it's
very good, contemplative songwriting executed by a talented guitarist.
Second, it's quiet.
It's easy to overlook the importance of
quiet, but take Andrew's recent set at Modern Formations for a reading
put together by The New Yinzer literary mag. Andrew marveled at the
tiny intimacy of the space and said: "I like how quiet this place can
get. It lets me get even quieter." It's unique to see an artist
consider dynamics so concertedly, especially on the low end of the
decibel scale. And Andrew does it well.
The music itself is real
folk music, a la Jim Croce or Peter Paul & Mary. The
carefully-wrought songs are built on familiar chords, embellished by
off-kilter fingerpicking and expertly placed accents. Remember, when a
song is quiet to begin with, it makes anything loud really stand out.
In
the live setting, Andrew used this quiet simplicity to his advantage,
making sparing but effective use of a tambourine on just one song. On
other songs, a crescendo was enough to make the point.
Andrew
is not a forceful singer, but he is a very good singer. His husky
whispers rarely rise above a moan, but they're always on key, and they
don't waver or sound like they'll soon turn into tears.
On
stage, Andrew joked with the audience, alerting them that the
"900-piece" orchestral arrangements on his Transplant EP are far "less
boring" than just the guitar and occasional harmonica or tambourine on
stage. But the audience would have had to be quite dense to mistake
understated for boring. Andrew shouldn't worry.
Check out the original entry here as well as some other terrific local content
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