‘The Vig’ is a five-track release which also came out in 2021, the same year as ‘Sodium Vapor’, but again it is a very different release indeed. This time Andy has been joined by Anthony “Bones” Bonito on electric pianos on two of the numbers, but everything else is just him. What we have here is far more reflective, often keyboard-based, instrumentals which are ambient in some way but more progressive and direct in others. Andy says he was influenced by Brian Eno, but to my ears it is more structured than what we think of from Eno, and one can imagine this being used in soundtracks. The album it reminds me of most, although it is actually quite different, is Anthony Phillips’ ‘Private Parts & Pieces X: Soirée’ where the 12-string guitarist turned his hand to piano and created some wonderfully delicate numbers, as that is what we have here.
The only real issue for me with this release is its length, as it is just too short. The five songs are less than 20 minutes long in total, and I would love to have heard this expanded into something at least double that. This is music to be played on headphones when the listener just wants to drift away into a different world. I am writing this in a Starbucks, and the world is bustling on around me while I am sat in this wonderful oasis of sound. This instrumental album is an absolute delight, and yet again very different to what Andy has been producing elsewhere. This magpie of a musician is able to full dive into whatever musical world he wants to inhabit and is well worthy of investigation.
Rating: 8/10
[bandcamp width=350 height=621 album=3181274722 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]
Links:
https://faunch.bandcamp.com/