This Is The New Amazing:
Kyle Andrews on His New LP, Brighter Than The Sun
Words by Christine Loughran
When it comes to fusing that synthesizer-heavy 80s-pop sound, as so many artists have, with contagiously cheery melodies, Kyle Andrews just gets it. What you wind up with is a kind of Tears for Fears meets (a more upbeat) Elliott Smith or a Flock of Seagulls mixed with Jason Mraz.
Take the first single off Andrews’ new record, Brighter than the Sun. The disposition of “The Way to Wonder,” couldn’t be any sunnier as Andrews croons, ‘This is the new amazing/This is the world we wanted/This is the life we dreamed of/this is me and you.’ The track even has a few well-placed handclaps to complement his guitar strums—everything you could want from a summer jam.
According to Andrews, that was no accident. “I try to put the most positive spin on everything, and when you’re playing these songs live, the lyrics are kind of like words of affirmation,” he said. “It’s hard not to feel good saying those things to people.”
The Nashville-based singer songwriter added of Brighter than the Sun, “I wanted to make a mark with something that felt genuinely positive. I wanted to put people in a good place while listening to it.”
Plus, he realized he wouldn’t have had another chance to record if the world ended in 2012 as the Mayan calendar predicted.
“I kind of had that in the back of my head, and even though it’s silly I was thinking I would want to make a record if the world was going to end,” he joked. To have this MP3 floating through space, and if someone were to pick it up, I was having that sense of ‘What if?’”
www.kyleandrews.com
As for the rest of the album, the electro-pop melodies on “Looking Up” and “Lion” further depict the inherent positivity of Brighter than the Sun, as the name would suggest, which has a lot to do with Andrews himself feeling content in his career and personal life. These tracks will also be sure to strike a chord with fans of Cut Copy and M83.
When we caught up with Andrews in May to talk about the album, he was at a grocery store shopping for a barbecue he planned to host for his 31st birthday—which was also three weeks shy of his upcoming wedding.
“I just picked out our flowers, which was kind of a trip; we’re planning a wedding, and we’re putting out this record all at once,” said Andrews, who arguably began making a name for himself with his 2010 hit, “You Always Make Me Smile.” As a side note, the video for this song showed 4,000 people participating in what they hoped would be the world’s largest water balloon fight listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Recording Brighter than the Sun felt spontaneous and driven, and something I felt good to do”, he said.
“The Way to Wonder” also recently premiered on MTV’s Buzzworthy Blog as a new track to listen to; another exciting bit of news Andrews is trying to absorb.
“I’m living the life I dreamed of when I was 13,” he concludes.
The latest album from Kyle Andrews, Brighter than the Sun is set to be released on July 23, 2013 via Elephant Lady Records.
