Andrew Belle’s one of those artists who’s apparently been quietly sound-tracking significant portion chunks of my post college life without me even realizing it (and a major shout out to an old friend Cirse for the initial rec)… From watching him live at Lincoln Hall in Chicago after The Ladder came out (2010!), to getting excited to dive deep (!) into his latest EP Solstices, I did a significant discography dive this past week and realized that all of his stuff is just a) really good, and b) right up my alley.
For those not in the know, his music sits somewhere between indie pop and cinematic melancholy — like if Sleeping at Last and The National had coffee and decided to write songs about existential hope.
There’s this steady pulse to everything he does: warm synths, patient builds, that soft ache in his voice that makes every lyric sound personal, even if it’s not. His early stuff (The Ladder, Black Bear – my personal fave of his) leans more acoustic and wistful, but his newer work trades guitars for texture — spacious, glowing, headphone-music kind of stuff. It’s frankly epic work and the latest below, is any indication of where he’s going… i’m excited to keep following
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