A Drew Story (From My Cyrkle of Friends): Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Andrew Sandoval, the young (well, younger than me) liner-note writer who records his own orchestral pop music as simply Andrew. (At right is the striking cover of his first full-length album, A Beautiful Story[Eggbert].)
Attached to Andrew's e-mail was his latest studio creation, which he wrote was a collaboration with former Cyrkle member Tom Dawes: "He Can Fly". I'm not sure how much Dawes had to do with it–Andrew sings lead on it–but's definitely the best recording I've ever heard from Andrew, and the best thing I've heard from Dawes since the Cyrkle. (The only other post-Cyrkle Dawes tune I've heard was a disco 45 on London from the 1970s.) It sounds like an transition cut from a lost, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake-style concept album, or, more accurately, The Point(by the Small Faces and Nilsson, respectively). Toytown-psychedelia lyrics about an airborne furry creature are propped up by staccato piano blips and gorgeous, Smiley Smile-like falsetto-driven harmonies.
I wrote back to Andrew to say that I thought the track sounded more like the obscure 1968 RCA band Family Tree–a Bob Segarini group that worked with Nilsson–than the Cyrkle. Haven't heard from him since, so I hope he wasn't offended. Anyone who's heard the Family Tree would know it was a compliment.
12:36 PM
