Andy Shauf

2785 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD,CLEVELAND HEIGHTS OH 44106

17 September, 2021

Description

Andy Shauf +$2 at door if under 21 ALL AGES Andy Shauf Cassandra Jenkins Andy Shauf live at the Grog Shop Andy Shauf w/ Cassandra Jenkins September 17th, 2021 Doors 7:30 pm / Show 8:30 pm $20 advance / $22 day of show +$2 at door if under 21 Singer/songwriter Andy Shauf's dark, rustic tales of the Canadian prairie blend folk with sophisticated pop, reflecting his upbringing in Regina, Saskatchewan. Citing influences like Wilco, Elliott Smith, and Neil Young, Shauf's hushed, lyrical songs have a keen focus on arrangement, while his lyrics are literate and down-to-earth, offering deep-focus portraits of the emotional lives of his characters. After making his debut with a collection of demos released in 2009 as Darker Days, Shauf made his commercial and critical breakthrough with 2016's The Party, a painstakingly created song cycle following the events of a single evening at a house party. He followed it with 2020's The Neon Skyline, another concept piece about lost love and one evening at a small town bar. Andy Shauf was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on June 21, 1986. His parents were evangelical Christians who ran a music and electronics store, and equipment that went unsold often ended up at the Shauf house. Andy became part of the family's Christian rock group as he learned to master a variety of instruments, including guitar, piano, bass, drums, and clarinet (the latter being one of the reasons woodwinds often pop up in his arrangements). As a teenager, he played drums with a Christian pop punk band called Captain, but his disinterest in spiritual matters led to him quitting the group. The Bearer of Bad News Preferring to work on his own, Shauf set up a studio in his parents' basement, and he started recording his songs by himself, playing all the instruments and handling the production and engineering. He self-released a set of early material under the title Darker Days in 2009. He spent the following two years painstakingly recording his first proper album, Bearer of Bad News, which he released in late 2012. The album was critically well-received and over the coming two years he expanded his touring range throughout North America, eventually heading to Europe as well. In January 2015, Bearer of Bad News was re-released by the Portland, Oregon-based label Tender Loving Empire, belatedly expanding his reputation in the United States. His follow-up was constructed in a similarly intricate manner, with the initial 2014 full-band sessions later being scrapped in favor of Shauf's preferred method of recording and arranging each instrument himself. The result was 2016's The Party, another literate, detailed pop gem that saw a U.S. release via the Anti- label, with Arts & Crafts handling the record in Canada. The album was short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize, an annual award honoring exceptional Canadian recordings. While he didn't win, the attention helped boost Shauf's public profile, and he was able to relocate to Toronto and build a better personal studio. Early 2020 saw the release of his fourth album, The Neon Skyline, a similarly smart and inventive concept piece. https://andyshauf.com/ Cassandra Jenkins “Nothing ever really disappears,” Cassandra Jenkins says. “It just changes shape.” Over the past few years, she’s seen relationships altered, travelled three continents, wandered through museums and parks, and recorded free-associative guided tours of her New York haunts. Her observations capture the humanity and nature around her, as well as thought patterns, memories, and attempts to be present while dealing with pain and loss. With a singular voice, Jenkins siphons these ideas into the ambient folk of her new album, An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. “The whole thing flows like an emotional breakthrough, tying together disparate observations into a serene and unified vision,” said Pitchfork, which gave the album Best New Music. NPR, in their coverage for New Music Friday, called it “so, so stunning.” Jenkins, a veteran musician who’s played in the bands of Eleanor Friedberger, Craig Finn, Lola Kirke, and rehearsed to tour with Purple Mountains in August 2019 before the tour’s cancellation, spent months meticulously making her debut LP Play Till You Win. For Phenomenal Nature, she arrived at engineer Josh Kaufman’s (The National, The Hold Steady) studio with ideas rather than full songs – nevertheless, they finished the album in a week. Jenkins’ voice floats amid sensuous chamber pop arrangements and raw-edged drums, ferrying us through impressionistic portraits of friends and strangers. Her lyrics unfold magical worlds, introducing you to a cast of characters like a local fisherman, a psychic at a birthday party, and driving instructor of a spiritual bent. In their Rising feature on Jenkins, Pitchfork said: “The idea of decentering the self comes up again and again as a guiding principle... she acts as an ethnographer archiving quotidian sounds and conversations as much as a songwriter telling her own story.” On album opener “Michelangelo,” before the heavy drum beat and fuzz guitars enter, Jenkins sings quietly “I’m a three-legged dog, working with what I’ve got / and part of me will always be looking for what I lost // there’s a fly around my head, waiting for the day I drop dead.” Phenomenal Nature thrives in this dichotomy between ornate sonics and verbal frankness, a calming guided tour to the edge. Later, on “Crosshairs,” amid lush strings, she sings conversationally: “Empty space is my escape / it runs through me like a river / while time spits in my face.” “Hard Drive,” the third track and album centerpiece, opens with a voice memo Jenkins recorded at The Met Breuer: a guard muses about Mrinalini Mukherjee’s hybrid textile and sculpture works, which were then on display in a retrospective titled Phenomenal Nature. “When we lose our connection to nature, we lose our spirit, our humanity,” she explains. Stuart Bogie's saxophone & Josh Kaufman's glittering guitar make way for Jenkins' spoken word which constellates scenes from her life, gradually building and blossoming as she recreates a meditation guided by a friend who incants, “One, two, three.” Sounds of footsteps and bird calls run through the album’s glittering conclusion, “The Ramble.” Meditative and bright, it recalls how Jenkins felt while writing and recording her new material: “Everything else is falling apart, so let’s just enjoy this time,” she said. If Phenomenal Nature has a unifying theme, it’s the power of presence, the joy of walking in a world in constant flux and opening oneself to change. https://cassandrajenkins.com/ PLEASE NOTE UPDATED COVID-19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS We care for nothing more than the safety of our staff, patrons, and performers. All ticket buyers for this event must show proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative PCR test 48 hours prior in order to gain entry. Proof of vaccination may include a physical card or a photo of a complete vaccination card that matches the patron ID. Proof of a negative test may be a printed or digital test result that matches the patron ID. For more information please visit the "FAQ" page on our website here: https://grogshop.gs/faq/ We appreciate your understanding and support - thank you! Andy Shauf Cassandra Jenkins The Grog Shop opened in September of 1992 in the Coventry Rd. neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. Though expanded in size when moved to it’s current location in 2003, the club maintains the intimacy and raw character it has always been known for. We have a full bar with an extensive list of micro-brews, imports, and domestic beer, and of course plenty of liquor.