Andy Shauf offers up another unreliable narrator ditty with ‘Telephone’
Gorgeous is what it is. Andy Shauf has once again gently crooned and strummed his way towards another sumptuous, fig-roll-textured, dreamy indie ditty about a terribly sinister stalker. ‘Telephone’ is the latest tale from the unreliable narrator walking us through Shauf’s forthcoming record, Norm.
Norm is a strange character. This latest effort continues to establish the meek and mild disposition of the album’s star, but beyond the mellow, pillow-propped music, lies a postmodernist twist—our narrator’s wistfulness might be sorely misplaced. The result is a forlorn reverie that harbours riveting snags in its unfurling flow.
This sort of songwriting has become a signature of Shauf’s. As the Saskatchewan songsmith explains: “Big subjects are trickier to write about. 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.” These trifling matters and dainty tunes have an echo of dark depth, reflective of society at the moment.
‘Telephone’ might not be as immediately lulling as the previous singles from the record so far, but as Shauf found out on the masterful record The Neon Skyline, when you’ve established an arching intrigue, the individual songs are offered more wriggle room to simply be themselves. That shines through gloriously here. ‘Telephone’ might not be a smash hit, but it is very much its own thing, unburdened by the confines of usual constructs and joyously licensed to simply regale us with a tale.
The new album is due for release on February 2nd, 2023. It is being released by Anti and will be the Canadian chansonnier’s seventh studio album following last year’s release, Wilds. Once more, Shauf returns to storytelling with the near-concept record.
You can check out the luscious yet laced new single below.
