Imagine this: you host a party and find a little piece of yourself reflected in every guest you have a conversation with. That’s what happened to Regina-based songwriter Andy Shauf when recounting his latest album, which was released in May of this year.
The Party is Shauf’s third full-length record, and his first to make the Polaris Prize’s shortlist (or longlist, for that matter). The disc has been hailed by critics as a near-perfect concept album, one that’s told through the lens of several different characters over the course of one evening.
There’s the magician, there’s the wallflower, there’s the jilted lover, and several others – and they all convene at Shauf’s unintentionally solipsistic party. The thread they all share is a sense of social anxiety and awkwardness.
“I think there are a lot of awkward characters because I’ve projected myself onto them,” the Saskatchewan folk-singer says. “In my mind, they’re just normal people but filtered through my social awkwardness, I suppose.”
In each of the record’s 10 tracks, Shauf shows off his storytelling chops, effortlessly executing the personas and partially-fictional stories, from album opener “The Magician” to closing tracks “Alexander All Alone” and “Martha Sways.”
“I’m a little bit more interested in writing fiction than I am in writing autobiographical songs,” Shauf says, “but I try to use a lot of characters. I always think that I’m writing fiction, but after the fact. I kind of rewind and find a subconscious me in there.”
The singer’s indirect adoption of other identities could be in part to his own modesty – he reluctantly accepts praise for The Party’s success, and downplays his hard-earned musical talent.
Before The Party, Shauf was responsible for playing every instrument heard on his albums, from his debut Darker Days (2009) to sophomore album The Bearer of Bad News (2012), and the EPs in between.
“I play everything by ear, so I just pick something up and figure it out and make a noise with it,” he says. A meek shoulder shrug is almost audible over the line.
“On The Party, I got my friend to come and play the violins and cellos,” he digresses. “That stuff’s a little out of my league; it requires, like, 20 years of learning, so I don’t have that much time,” he adds with a laugh.
As for snagging a spot on the 2016 Polaris Prize’s shortlist – where he kept good company alongside the likes of PUP, Black Mountain, and Grimes – Shauf doesn’t readily admit to being caught in a surreal moment. Ultimately, it was Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada who went home with the winning title after the Polaris Prize Gala on Sept. 19.
“The Polaris Prize, in my mind, is a big deal, and I’ve paid attention to it in the last number of years and I’ve dreamed about being on the shortlist,” he admits, “and it feels great, but it still feels like incremental little jumps even though it’s really started to come together in the last year and a half.”
Having performed music professionally since 2006, playing “DIY shows,” regaling his songs to coffee-shop audiences, and later moving on to support Wake Owl and the Lumineers on tour, the Regina native has been relentless in his pursuit of music.
“It was a really gradual process… and I just worked at it for a long time, and gradually it got better and a lot of people started listening, and here we are today,” he says.
Today, the songwriter has three full-length albums under his belt, a couple of EPs, and a whole roster of character-based ballads – like those heard on The Party – that seem to exorcise Shauf’s own demons.
“It’s an indirect way to write about me – sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it,” he says. “The situations that they find themselves in, some are familiar to me and others are imaginings of scenarios, but I’ve definitely encountered a lot of these emotions and circumstances.”
– Kristi Alexandra writes for our sister paper the Westender
