Andy Bull, Aussies Indie Pop extraordinaire has dropped a new album ‘People You love’, which has been long awaited for.
In contrast to Andy Bull’s break-through album Sea of Approval which was concocted with electro-pop layers that were the foundation for his inner emotional world, People You Love naturally sparks warm yet brutally honest dialogue as Andy shifts through feelings of disenfranchisement so he can get to a place where he feels a real sense of self that is far from the cynical world that you can get stuck in.
Beautifully composed, the title track explores the taboo thoughts around having mixed and messy feelings toward your loved ones. “It’s hard to admit what you think of the people you love” he expresses. Andy uses his lyrics to arrive at a soft approach that is doused in self-deprecating humour, “I wonder now, if this is suffering, I could monetize?”
Through the album, he contemplates his motivation to be a part of a society that values personal experience as something that is less desirable “the biggest, baddest dreams of billionaires – it’s all dog meat and dancing bears”, which he sings in Dying Stars. He reconsiders these themes in a more self-mocking way through his soul-stirring, danceable track Trying to Convince You and conveys that he feels he is “…living in an idiot’s dream, seeing what an idiot sees… I know what I am”.
In 2015, for over a year Andy secluded himself in his studio to record and share Sea of Approval, a self-produced record that dived into synth-indie sounds and electronic production and explored his songwriting. It became cemented in musical culture, as he was emerging into the new generation of Australian producer-songwriters.
Recorded in a semi-live recording studio in Sydney with his touring band, Andy wrote and produced People you Love after he had begun writing the songs in 2018 and was heading towards a dark and cynical place; “I’d left the label I’d been at since I was a kid. Some disturbing public narratives started emerging around abuses of power and secrecy” he opened up about his journey with these heavy thoughts.
Through processing and facing these difficult memories, moments, and situations, Andy was able to collapse these feelings and turn them into a tangible album that is full of love. “When you listen through the album, I want you to feel held, and that it’s ok to have mixed feelings about the world, and that despite the weirdness of it all, that we are together, and that we can feel optimistic about being here” he shares the true intention of his album and how he wants people to receive it, with open arms and a sense of understanding that things are confusing a lot of the time.
It’s Friday, pour yourself a drink and stream this album before heading out.
