“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. 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. Even at their most obscure, Shauf’s songs are as alive and full of mystery as the stranger beside you at checkout.Photo Credit: Angela Lewis Andy Shauf’s announces new album, Norm, via Arts & CraftsĪndy Shauf has announced his new album, Norm, out February 10, 2023, on Arts & Crafts and has shared its lead single/video, “ Wasted On You.” In conjunction, Shauf announces a 2023 Norm Tour, including some of his biggest shows to date. ![]() Pastel synths glint through “Telephone” and “Don’t Let It Get to You” like highway lights, while clarinets flutter alongside piano on “You Didn’t See.” The light arrangements evaporate into the air like fragrance, but, weighted with the story’s spiritual ambiguity, each note feels worthy of obsession. Shauf’s needlepoint vocal delivery, at times reaching a newly unlocked high register, is a highlight. Play Norm in the background and notice its unburdened, graceful tone, the easeful glide of the instrumentation. Narrative twists and divine intervention are not the only tools Shauf uses to complicate his story. “If there’s a reality to it, it’s that we’re always getting it wrong.” “I wanted to make love songs that were disconnected from romanticizing love,” he told Stereogum. “What if God didn’t understand what love was?” is how Shauf poses the album’s motivating question. ![]() By the end of the record, it’s difficult to say which characters come away together or even alive. As the plot thickens with the introduction of the woman’s worried acquaintance and an open-ended, possibly nefarious car ride, Shauf’s romantic inquiries grow more open-ended and existential. When Norm hides in the bushes outside his crush’s house, the Lord watches over him, making sure the leaves cover his shoulders. ![]() Soon, he’s standing outside her window, hiding behind a tree, or trailing her to the theater.Īll the while, someone else is following the action: God. These brief half-encounters-running into her around town, calling her and quickly hanging up-escalate into an alarming routine. With “Catch Your Eye” and “Telephone,” Shauf introduces the main character, Norm, a lovelorn stoner determined to turn his meet-cute fantasies into reality as he desperately stalks his crush from the grocery store. This isn’t a biblical outlier amid more down-to-earth material it’s the album’s thematic root. “Maybe I’ll send you down, give them a clue…. ![]() “Maybe eternal life? But only if they find me.” As if tossing out ideas in a sitcom writers’ room, Shauf breezes through concepts that have incited doctrinal wars. “What happens when they die?” God asks his son in the opening line. On lead single and album opener “Wasted on You,” Shauf writes from the perspective of God and Jesus as two bros brainstorming an idea for their new startup: Christianity. This time around, the narrators are more unknowable-and, sometimes, all-knowing. From the social anxiety of 2016’s The Party to the wistful bar-hopping of 2020’s The Neon Skyline, Shauf’s previous concept albums explored the humdrum lives of relatable characters.
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