Ten years after his first live appearance, Tennessee-based songwriter Andrew Combs is back with his sixth album, Dream Pictures. Described as “the grey area between folk, country, and classic pop”, it really is impossible to categorise. The record embodies the popular ‘homemade’ sound of folk tracks, without surrendering any production quality, and feels like a hot, late summer evening.
I interviewed Combs before the album release to get answers to the questions that this album inevitably brings up, surrounding family, production, and genre. Plus, Combs told Nouse all about what it’s like to do NPR’s famous Tiny Desk Concert. Read on for the full interview, and then stream Dream Pictures, out now.
M: The album began with a tape machine, and your drummer, Dom, wanting to experiment. How many of the songs were recorded on a tape machine, and how did that change the recording experience?
AC: Dom Billet, who I’ve worked with for a long time touring and recording, just after my previous record Sundays was released, it was still sort of the end of COVID time so we were home a lot. He was like, “I’ve got this tape machine, I’d like to try it out so come over if you’ve got some songs.” I didn’t have a lot of songs but I wrote a couple – one of them was ‘Your Eyes and Me’ which ended up on the record. It’s fun for me to hear the progression of him learning how to use that tape machine. All those songs are recorded to tapes, some overdubs are done digitally on top of the tape basic tracks. You can really hear that hiss and the rawness of us learning this way of recording.
M: Tiny Desk Concert is such a dream for so many artists. What was your experience doing it like?
AC: Total dream. It was very unexpected but luckily I have some fans at NPR that have been following me along. I think… that they had tried to fit me in with [Ideal Man] but it didn’t work out, so when Sundays came around, we did it. I’m super glad because the songs on Sundays are very much suited for the Tiny Desk atmosphere which is more stripped down. It’s cool to be behind that desk where I’ve watched so many videos that I love.
M: Your new album, Dream Pictures, was largely written at night. In what ways would you say your album is influenced by the timing of its creation?
AC: It’s just a matter of necessity – that’s really all the time I had. I have a job as well as music, and when you have children, you end up working your time management a lot differently from when you don’t, so you just take whatever time you can to do you. I embraced it, and the evening has become a time of wind down, a time for me to do what I want to do. It was more out of necessity.
M: ‘To Love’ ends with an overwhelmingly strong amount of reverb. Tell me about how this links to the meaning behind the track.
AC: That’s a song that definitely, to my audience, is a departure from what I do or have done, but that sound is something I’ve always liked on my own. I’m only just now getting comfortable putting it out there. In terms of meaning though, it’s just a sonic palate that we chose. I’m a firm believer that both [lyrics and production] have to be meaningful to me. This was the one song I mostly wrote here, at my house on my laptop.
M: The album has elements of lofi, country, soul, folk and ‘70s pop. Does it feel natural to mix genres, or is it something you seek out in the songwriting process?
AC: I definitely don’t seek it out. I love all kinds of music, and I go through phases of being really into certain eras and kinds of music. My main goal is to have fun, and what falls under that umbrella is keeping things interesting to myself. I guess it’s kind of selfish, but art is inherently selfish. I want people to like it and I love it when they do but that isn’t my main goal, so I just do what feels right in the moment. [Laughs] That feels so cliche to say!
M: Your wife is clearly a major focus in the song ‘Eventide’. Do you feel that your family is a recurring influence over the album?
AC: That song is definitely the best portrait of that. I like to think of that song as the thesis statement of the record about being content, and going back to what I was saying about writing at night, not trying to battle where and when I can fit in time to be creative, but more just embrace it. It’s nice to take a step back and realise how lucky and grateful I am for where I am, my children, and especially my wife.
M: Have you played it to her?
AC: Oh yeah, she’s heard it. She’s probably sick of it by now! It’s one of my favourite one’s to sing, and I really love the melody.
Andrew Combs will be coming to Saltaire’s The Live Room on 25 August, and Dream Pictures is out now on all streaming platforms. Further information on the album, merchandise, tour dates and more can be found on Andrew Combs’ website: https://www.andrewcombsmusic.com/.
