Andrew Leahey & The Homestead Kick / Move / Shake
Andrew Leahey & The Homestead are back with a follow-up to American Static. On Kick / Move / Shake, Leahey and the band touch a sparkler / sparkle / sparkplug. First, in the technical delights of intricate pop arranging. Then, in his sensitivity to the geographies of longing.
For Leahey is attentive to horizons, the lack of them, and the fault lines as “Phosphorescent” turns to “Horizonless” and to “One that Got Away Came Back.” The bouncy grooves, stacked synths, and melodies that ramble their way to triumph make these metaphors fit for a road trip. It may be what you need in that last long hour, but to Kick / Move / Shake primarily for Leahey’s stylistic turn from down-the-line Americana would be to miss what makes this record really fire.
It starts coming into sharp perspective on “Sleepwalking the Ceiling.” Here, Leahey considers the heartache of living parallel, trying to cross the line, and coming up short. And all across Kick / Move / Shake, Leahey kindles the awareness of what lights life up, always looking at these things from across the thresholds. Whether of heartbreak or death or simply time. On “Sleepwalking,” they’ve set it to a bop. On “Not Like September,” to a ballad.
Lyrically speaking, much of this record remains abstract. The images are clear. But they focus on psychological and interpersonal drama, leaving the listener to create the happenings from the feelings / sentiments / passions. Not on “Kristina on the L Train.” The chorus is portraiture.
“Kristina, are you riding on the L Train now?
Staring through a window that you can’t roll down?
Looking at a lonely girl looking out?”
Like any good portrait, it says more about the one who paints it than it does about the one who is painted. As Leahey narrates imagined scenes of someone looking back knowing what the past means for them and regretting / dreading / wondering what it means for the other, this collection of songs rises to its highest peak in the determination to go back again.
Because at its heart, this album keeps coming back to tenderness, making the electric waltz “Use Your Daylight” a fitting conclusion to this record. Leahey makes the hard things plain—“You look like the news lately”—but turns toward encouragement. It’s a feeling that could go on forever.
This time, track back to the beginning and play it again. Because Kick / Move / Shake is filled with the kind of songs a person could get lost in and live inside of. A mirage / a reality / a dream.
Kick / Move / Shake is out October 31. Don’t wait to grab your copy here.
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Video Series: Drive In Video: Andrew Leahey
—
Andrew Leahey wrote all the songs on Kick / Move / Shake—with The Homestead’s Jay Dmuchowski and Dan Holmes on “Phosphorescent,” “Horizonless,” “The one that got away came back,” and “Porcelain and Plastic” and with John Prensner on “Not Like September.” Gregory Lattimer produced, engineered and mixed all songs, except “Lady Luck” and “Use Your Daylight,” which were produced, engineered, and mixed by Aaron Shafer-Haiss. Ryan Schwabe mastered Kick / Move / Shake.
Kick / Move /Shake sees Andrew Leahey playing guitars, piano, keys, synthesizers, and singing. Dan Holmes plays drums, and Jay Dmuchowski plays bass, guitars, and keys.
Greg Herndon plays keys. Aaron Shafer-Haiss plays drums, bass, keys and synthesizers. Sam Howard and Phil Anthony play bass on “Use Your Daylight” and “Kristina on the L Train,” respectively, while Gregory Lattimer sings backgrounds on “Horizonless”
