Andrea Perry and Sam’s Instant Band

Andrea Perry “Four”
Austin Texas songstress Andrea Perry successfully funded her fourth LP and it highlights her skillful arranging and sugary pop melodies. Playing like a lush twee daydream, “My Lover Said” features Andrea’s willowy vocal as it sails across a bed of acoustic guitars and strings.

It seamlessly transitions into the sweet “Spring,” with its twisting verse, then picks up speed with “Another Bad Idea.” With her delicate harmonies and pastoral imagery, its very familiar territory for fans of Pugwash and XTC.

The mid-tempo ballads here are what you’ll cherish here, “Where Have You Been” is a perfect example with minor chord shifts in each verse. There is an old fashioned sense of love and loss with relationships as a theme throughout the album, and “Flame in My Heart” and “Not A Pretty Pair” were the most articulate for me. Another big standout is the redemptive “Throw Me A Line.” It all leads to the finale “Welcome Home” and the coda “Alight With Me.” Highly recommended.

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Sam’s Instant Band “Namaste”
There isn’t much on the internet about Will and the Bushmen, an indie college rock band from Mobile, Alabama. The band was founded by Will Kimbrough and Sam Baylor. Influenced by Big Star and Neil Young in the mid 1980’s they made a few albums, got picked up by a major label (EMI), played on MTV and then vanished without a trace. Fast forward about 20 years…

Sam Baylor now returns with The Instant Band. Never mind the crude LP artwork, this is not some kids record, but a thoughtful and personal statement on life. Starting with “Train At The Station” its rich jangling guitar and easy going vocal will please fans of Tom Petty, Neil Young and Warren Zevon. The romantic “Day That We Die” is equally catchy, and profoundly simple in its lyric. The alt. country spin on “Kiss Me I’m Crazy” is charming in a Leonard Cohen meets Wilco sort of way. Equally fascinating is “I Walk Alone,” a depressing ballad with dreamy REM quality. Worth checking out.