Voice, Songs, Acoustic Guitar, Ukulele, Pianos, Organs, Things
Spectral Cities:
Sean Taugher - Drums
Erik Norgaard- Bass
James Zzyzyx - Guitars, Keys
Josh Carlson - Guitars, Keys
Other Contributors:
Timothy C. Reece - Drums
Matt Bennett - Drums
Jake McLaughlin - Bass
Mike Trujillo - Bass
Jimmy Lavalle - Various Instruments
Matt Resovich - Violins
Scott Mercado - Drums
Eric Kusanagi- Guitars
Melanie S. Barrows - Bass
“Drew has his own powerful voice that sounds worlds away, as if from some distant planet rotating around twin analog and digital suns...the music is brave and the sound of an artist reaching deep inside of himself to fi,,nd his own voice.”
-ZACH ROGUE (ROGUE WAVE)
“Clean and bitter like an old letter re-read, spoken like prayers under the moon at night, lazy like the clouds around Belfast before the rain...Drew pours the wine to ease the days - words on the wire to a brittle edge, sung to understand the silence within.”
-PALL JENKINS (THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION/THREE MILE PILOT)Drew Andrews, the San Diego-based indie balladeer, had been cutting his teeth in the music world for some time before the 2008 release of his debut solo album, Only Mirrors, on Minty Fresh. Touring, writing, recording, and performing in both The Album Leaf and Via Satellite had set Drew up with the framework to create his own new music stylings - building a darkly child-like world of ethereal sounds and quiet instruments, framed by gentle acoustic fingerpicking and lush, present vocals.
Critics have responded well in the wake of the album's release, praising it's "gentle, undulating waves of softcore acoustic pop....within shouting distance of Elliot Smith's memorial slip and Cardinal's chamber-pop dinghy" (Alternative Press, 3.5 of 5 stars), calling the album "hauntingly reflective and guttingly bittersweet....the kind of debut that sinks into your soul and catches you staring off into space" (All Music Guide, 4 of 5 stars), "a perfect balance between his work creating instrumental soundscapes and his lyrical abilities, giving us strong songs that still manage to feel like they are floating above the ground we walk upon...a rainwater beauty that feels like some forgotten Leonard Cohen blues song falling upon a broken window framed with flowers" (Big Takeover), "...a lush suite of songs that compare with anything else he's worked on..." (San Diego Citybeat, 8.0 of 10)
Between his work on the upcoming Album Leaf LP, his release of rarities from his original band, Via Satellite, and hosting his monthly 'quiet music' evening at San Diego bar Whistle Stop (recently lauded as a hot spot by SPIN Magazine), Drew has been preparing work on his upcoming EP, Playing Birthday Games, due out by Fall 2009. His books and writings have also been released at Feedbooks.com, with more written material to be released in 2009.
But for now, there is Only Mirrors, nominated for Album of the Year and Best Alternative Album at the 2009 San Diego Music Awards - an album that is an extension of Drew's own travails and victories. Colorful balloons that fade out into atmospheric heights. Stories of longing with pinpricks of light at the end. Kindergarten ballads, lullabies that us grown-ups have drowned out amidst the taxi cabs, the alarm clocks, the deadlines and the ever-present bill debt. These songs are bundles of contradictions, not unlike the clash of so many cultures under our overpasses and skyscrapers. If what we see today are 'only mirrors' of that which is yet to come, then this album is Drew's take on a vision of how the world truly is - a bright photograph, captured in time, trailed by ghostly figures of our pasts, childlike prisms of color and spontaneous life - a marker of all that we are and all that we may be.
Management: Jake McLaughlin @ Station Ego Management
Booking Agent/Europe: claudia@mikrokultur.de
Hi Drew great show last saturday. I like your music. I haven't edited all of the video yet but I'll send you everything by the end of this week. I think it sounded great. If you're not playing... Hope you can make it to the May 23rd show at the Beauty Bar See you soon xo Maren
