LISTEN AND SHARE “THINGS I DO” HERE
THE NEON SKYLINE OUT JANUARY 24 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
PRE-ORDER THE NEON SKYLINE HERE
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES BEGIN FEBRUARY 7
TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY OCTOBER 25 10AM LOCAL TIME HERE
Photo Credit: Colin Medley // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Andy Shauf will release The Neon Skyline, his most direct and emotionally-rich work yet, on January 24 via Arts & Crafts, with a North American and European tour immediately following. Full tour dates can be found below, tickets are on sale Friday October 25 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.
LISTEN AND SHARE “THINGS I DO” HERE
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.
PRE-ORDER THE NEON SKYLINE HERE
The Neon Skyline Cover Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
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
TOUR DATES
Feb. 7 - Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups *
Feb. 8 - Lexington, KY @ The Burl *
Feb. 9 - Knoxville, TN @ Barley’s Taproom *
Feb. 11 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In *
Feb. 13 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
Feb. 14 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk *
Feb. 15 - Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Co. *
Feb. 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
Feb. 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda Theater *
Feb. 21 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall *
Feb. 22 - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s *
Feb. 24 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall *
Feb. 25 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Feb. 26 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom *
Feb. 28 - Calgary, AB @ Bella Concert Hall *
Feb. 29 - Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room *
March 2 - Saskatoon, SK @ Broadway Theatre *
March 3 - Regina, SK @ The Exchange *
March 4 - Winnipeg, MB @ Park Theatre *
March 5 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Hall *
March 6 - Milwaukee, WI @ Colectivo *
March 7 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
March 13 - Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
March 14 - Bordeaux, FR @ Krakatoa
March 17 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare and Hounds
March 18 - Glasgow, UK @ Mono
March 19 - Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
March 20 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
March 21 - Bristol, UK @ Fiddlers
March 22 - Brighton, UK @ Chalk
March 25 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie
March 26 - Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg
March 27 - Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown
March 28 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje
March 30 - Hamburg, DE @ Elbphilharmonie
March 31 - Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
April 1 - Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Klubb
April 2 - Oslo, NO @ Ingensteds
April 4 - Berlin, DE @ Silent Green
April 5 - Cologne, DE @ Luxor
April 6 - Rouen, FR @ Le 106
April 7 - Paris, FR @ Trianon
April 8 - London, UK @ Shepherds Bush Empire
April 24 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall ^
April 25 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre ^
April 26 - Sheffield, MA @ Race Brook Lodge ^
April 28 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club ^
April 30 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw ^
May 1 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
May 2 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat ^
May 4 - Charlottesville, NC @ The Southern ^
May 5 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle ^
May 6 - Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle ^
May 8 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West ^
May 9 - New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks ^
May 10 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn ^
May 12 - Indianapolis, IN @ Hi-Fi ^
May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum ^
May 15 - Asbury Park, NJ @ House of Independents ^
May 16 - Woodstock, NY @ Colony Cafe ^
*= w/ Molly Sarlé
^ = w/ Faye Webster