Transforming Big Experiences Into Small Moments, Andy Shauf Releases ‘Norm’
☆ BY Fiona Dolan ☆
COMPLEX YET SERENE — Andy Shauf’s sixth studio album, Norm, whisks us away with his familiar storytelling style yet again. The Canadian-born singer-songwriter’s new album exemplifies his growth in songwriting and maximizes listening pleasure with soothing harmonies and omniscient topics surrounding life itself, calling out questions of faith and humanity.
Following his hit albums, The Party (2016) and The Neon Skyline (2020), his latest release allows listeners to interpret each song in their own way. Shauf guides us into contemplating a multitude of subjects through the eyes of fictional characters: ponderings over love and loss, the fragility of life, and the human condition of forgetfulness. There is a lot left unsaid, which is perhaps the greatest feat for a songwriter. Leaving it up to his fans’ imaginations, Norm is not just for listening — it is for examining.
The album centers around Norm (hence the album title), a character ruminative and rapt. Opening with “Wasted on You,” the album's first single, the track seems to be grappling with a romantic heartbreak, as Norm wonders if he spent too much time on a certain someone. However, upon multiple listens, there are darker notes of life and death, questioning God and religion. Heavy piano calls for a catchy opener that is hard to miss, with a melody that sticks in your head. A stark artistic choice, “Wasted on You” juxtaposes the final track, “All Of My Love,” in which Shauf decides that his character did, in fact, waste his time, referencing the opening track and playing on similar lyrics. The closer is much more ominous and somber, harping on sadness and time you cannot buy back.
Midway through your listen, “Halloween Store” presents itself as a standout track of the album. The song is a biography of what it takes to physically get where you’re going, as you hit intrusive obstacles along your way — mostly, your own brain. Hilariously told and relatable in every way, lyrics ponder life's most common questions: “Where are my keys?” and “Did I actually lock my house when I left?” With storytelling like this, Shauf cuts through the noise and pokes fun at everyday occurrences.
Every track on the album is different from the next, as we move through the stories of Norm and three other characters. “Big subjects are trickier to write about,” Shauf said. “But the way that I found to write about them was by writing about them as a bunch of small things. Everything is everything. Big is just a bunch of small things.
Additional standout tracks include synthy love song “Telephone” and existential guitar ballad “Daylight Dreaming.”
Filled with an abundance of instruments that layer to create a dynamic presence, the synth, clarinet, trombone, piano, drums, and guitar are all played by Shauf himself. With undertones of jazz and pop, Norm calls on complicated melodies paradoxing tranquil tones, making the album fresh, atmospheric, and profound. Collaborating with all-time sound mixer Neal Pogue (Tyler the Creator, OutKast) and storyteller Nicholas Olson, Shauf elevates his already beautiful sound and pokes at an emotional response from listeners to question God, fate, and fear.
For fans of Hand Habits, Buck Meek, and Katy Kirby, Norm is the perfect musical project for a complex thinker. Shauf has been praised for his concept albums, and his newest release allows us to see the inner workings of a great songwriter's mind contemplating the fantastic normalness of being a human.
Listen to Norm, out everywhere, and find Andy Shauf’s tour dates for this spring here.
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