Andy Shauf Announces New Album 'The Neon Skyline,' Out January 24
Andy Shauf will release The Neon Skyline, his most direct and emotionally-rich work yet, on January 24th via ANTI-, with a North American and European tour immediately following (all shows on sale on this Friday, October 25th at 10am local time here).
The interconnected songs on The Neon Skyline, all written, performed, arranged and produced by Shauf, follow a simple plot: the narrator goes to his neighborhood dive, finds out his ex is back in town, and she eventually shows up. As with Shauf’s last solo album, 2016’s The Party, The Neon Skyline is densely layered with an abundance of charming moments. His characters are all sympathetic here, people who share countless inside jokes, shots, and life-or-death musings when the night gets hazy. Today, he offers the first taste, “Things I Do,” which examines the dissolution of the narrator's past relationship over tense and jazz-minded instrumentation.
[youtube id=MF9DjpLsZWM]
For The Neon Skyline, Shauf chose to start each composition on guitar instead of his usual piano. Happy accidents like Shauf testing out a new spring reverb pedal and experimenting with tape machines forced him to simplify how he'd arrange the tracks. Over the course of a year-and-a-half, Shauf ended up with almost 50 songs all about the same night at the bar. Though paring down his massive body of work to a single album's worth of material was a challenge for Shauf, the final tracklist is seamless and fully-formed.
Shauf's attention-to-detail in his writing on The Party evoked Randy Newman and his unorthodox, flowing lyrical phrasing recalled Joni Mitchell. Though that album, which followed different attendees of a house party, was his breakthrough, his undeniable songwriting talent has been long evident. Raised in Bienfait, Saskatchewan, he cut his teeth in the nearby Regina music community. In 2018, his band Foxwarren, formed over a decade ago with childhood friends, released a self-titled album where Pitchfork recognized how "Shauf has diligently refined his storytelling during the last decade.”
On top of heartbreak, friendship, and the mundane moments of humanity that define his songwriting, Shauf makes music that explores how easy it is to find yourself in familiar patterns and repeat the same mistakes of your past. His characters wonder, "Did this relationship end too soon? Would going to another bar cheer my friend up?,” or "How hard is it to give a shit?" The songs on The Neon Skyline ultimately take solace in accepting that life goes on and things will be okay.
Stream Andy Shauf’s “Things I Do” - https://youtu.be/MF9DjpLsZWM
Pre-order The Neon Skyline - https://andyshauf.ffm.to/theneonskyline
The Neon Skyline Tracklist:
1. Neon Skyline
2. Where Are You Judy
3. Clove Cigarette
4. Thirteen Hours
5. Things I Do
6. Living Room
7. Dust Kids
8. The Moon
9. Try Again
10. Fire Truck
11. Changer
Andy Shauf Tour Dates:
Fri. Feb. 7 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
Sat. Feb. 8 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl *
Sun. Feb. 9 - Knoxville, TN @ Barley’s Taproom *
Tue. Feb. 11 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In *
Thu. Feb. 13 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
Fri. Feb. 14 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk *
Sat. Feb. 15 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co. *
Tue. Feb. 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
Thu. Feb. 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theater *
Fri. Feb. 21 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall *
Sat. Feb. 22 - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
Mon. Feb. 24 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
Tue. Feb. 25 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Wed. Feb. 26 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Fri. Feb. 28 - Calgary, AB @ Bella Concert Hall *
Sat. Feb. 29 - Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room *
Mon. March 2 - Saskatoon, SK @ Broadway Theatre *
Tue. March 3 - Regina, SK @ The Exchange *
Wed. March 4 - Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre *
Thu. March 5 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Hall *
Fri. March 6 - Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo *
Sat. March 7 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Fri. March 13 - Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Sat. March 14 - Bordeaux, FR @ Krakatoa
Tue. March 17 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
Wed. March 18 - Glasgow, UK @ Mono
Thu. March 19 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
Fri. March 20 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Sat. March 21 - Bristol, UK @ Fiddlers
Sun. March 22 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
Wed. March 25 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie
Thu. March 26 - Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
Fri. March 27 - Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown
Sat. March 28 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
Mon. March 30 - Hamburg, DE @ Elbphilharmonie
Tue. March 31 - Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
Wed. April 1 - Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Klubb
Thu. April 2 - Oslo, NO @ Ingensteds
Sat. April 4 - Berlin, DE @ Silent Green
Sun. April 5 - Cologne, DE @ Luxor
Mon. April 6 - Rouen, FR @ Le 106
Tue. April 7 - Paris, FR @ Trianon
Wed. April 8 - London, UK @ Shepherds Bush Empire
Fri. April 24 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall ^
Sat. April 25 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre ^
Sun. April 26 - Sheffield, MA @ Race Brook Lodge ^
Tue. April 28 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club ^
Thu. April 30 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw ^
Fri. May 1 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
Sat. May 2 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat ^
Mon. May 4 - Charlottesville, NC @ The Southern ^
Tue. May 5 - Carrboro, BC @ Cat’s Cradle ^
Wed. May 6 - Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle ^
Fri. May 8 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West ^
Sat. May 9 - New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks ^
Sun. May 10 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn ^
Tue. May 12 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi ^
Wed. May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum ^
Fri. May 15 - Asbury Park, NJ @ House of Independents ^
Sat. May 16 - Woodstock, NY @ Colony Cafe ^
*= w/ Molly Sarlé
^ = w/ Faye Webster