Canadian Andy Shauf has been on my radar for some time. By no means a newcomer anymore, (he's been putting out records since 2009), he still has something distinctly young about him though there is a weathered and veined wisdom running through the songs on his latest album Neon Skyline.
Something of a suite, about a girl named Judy, an unnamed narrator and a bar called, yes you guessed it. Shauf tells stories, and this is something of a dying art these days. The fact that he tells them so sensitively and so well makes Neon Skyline a proper treat. This is his first album for four years and the songs seem work on, chiselled. They have the texture and quality of literature, a set of short stories, vignettes of small town life.
Small towns and the people who live in them seems to be a very contemporary concern at the minute and the characters who inhabit the songs here seem very contemporary, although of course they've always been around.'Left behind' as the well worn expression implies yet not seemingly over concerned about having been left behind. There's always time to order another at the bar or have another cigarette. Life goes on, even when it seems that it's upped and gone elsewhere.
The sheer quality of these songs is highly impressive as is the way they bleed so seamlessly into one another. Shauf has always reminded critics of Elliot Smith, and his influence is still apparent but Shauf is maturing nicely. I detected Kind of Blue in some of the key changes, Joni Mitchell, Ricky Lee Jones and Steely Dan in the hue and soft shoe shuffle of the songs.
These are big hitters and Shauf is not crushed by the comparison. He knows exactly what he's doing. Neon Skyline is the best thing he's done and he's done very good stuff already. He's not afraid to be cute when he wants to be. He understands that life is full of wonderful small moments that deserve to be recorded. We should be thankful.
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