Photo by Colin Medley.
Andy Shauf writes catchy melodies and simple folk-pop chord progressions that serve as innocuous vehicles for his poetic lyrics — sometimes uplifting, often unsettling — allowing them to burrow deep beneath the skin. This morning, the Regina, Saskatchewan-based singer-songwriter shared two new tracks, "Satan" and "Jacob Rose," 10 days before kicking off the third leg of a North American tour behind his seventh studio album, September 2021's Wilds. "Satan" comes with a grainy, cryptic music video directed by Ryan Steel.
The new tracks epitomize two sides of Shauf: the moody outsider who waxes on the strange state of our society ("Satan") and the humanist author who dives deep into rich character studies of oddballs like himself ("Jacob Rose").
He explained the story behind "Satan" in a written statement:
When I was young, there were a few years where I wasn’t allowed to celebrate Hallowe'en. The church that I grew up in was saying that Hallowe'en was ‘The Devil's Day’ and that it had its roots in satanic rituals. After a few years of this, my parents realized it was a bit silly to deny us our free candy and let us resume. The Christianity that I was brought up in said that believers went to heaven and non-believers went to hell. A sort of cartoon-like simplification of ancient texts. So with the lyrics of this song, I was trying to take this cartoon-like simplification of life (and death) and pair it with a cartoon-like version of this Christian hell. Where after you complete a long and disciplined life, you find yourself holding a bite-sized chocolate bar stapled to an invitation to a Hallowe'en pool party with Satan himself.
Watch the music video for "Satan," listen to "Jacob Rose," and view Shauf's upcoming tour dates below.
Andy Shauf tour dates
2/17 - Sheffield, MA - Race Brook Lodge *
2/18 - Woodstock, NY - Colony Cafe * SOLD OUT
2/19 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom *
2/20 - Charlottesville, VA - The Southern Music Hall *
2/22 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle *
2/23 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle *
2/24 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn *
2/25 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West *
2/26 - Orlando, FL - The Social *
2/27 - Tallahassee, FL - The Moon *
3/1 - Houston, TX - Heights Theater *
3/3 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger *
3/4 - Fort Worth, TX - Tulip's *
3/5 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre *
3/7 - Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf *
3/8 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole *
3/9 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern *
3/11 - Los Angeles, CA - Walt Disney Concert Hall ^
3/13 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 #
3/15 - Seattle, WA –-Neptune Theater #
3/16 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater #
3/18 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge ~
3/19 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theater ~
3/21 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck ~
3/22 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room ~
3/24 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theater ~
3/25 - St. Louis, MO - Blueberry Hill Duck Room #
3/26 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar #
3/27 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival
3/29 - Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall #
3/30 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
3/31 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
4/3 - Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
4/18 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn #
4/20 - Mérignac, FR - Le Krakatoa #
4/21 - Paris, FR - Trianon #
4/22 - Rouen, FR - Le 106 #
4/23 - Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU - Kulturfabrik #
4/24 - Utrecht, NL - Tivoli Vredenburg #
4/25 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotown #
4/26 Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje #
4/28 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen #
4/29 - Oslo, NO - Ingensteds #
4/30 - Stockholm, SE - Nalen Klubb #
5/2 - Hamburg, DE - Knust #
5/3 - Berlin, DE - Silent Green #
5/5 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique Festival #
5/6 - Cologne, DE - Luxor #
5/7 - Genk, BE - Little Waves Festival #
5/9 - Birmingham, UK - The Castle & Falcon #
5/10 - Edinburgh, UK - Summerhall #
5/11 - Glasgow, UK - Drygate #
5/12 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla #
5/13 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club #
5/14 - Bristol, UK - Fiddlers #
5/15 - Brighton, UK - Chalk #
5/16 - London, UK - Shepherd's Bush Empire #
5/18 - Belfast, UK - Em in pire #
5/19 - Dublin, IE - Button Factory #
* with Yves Jarvis
^ with Haley Heyndrickx
# with Helena Deland
~ with Cassandra Jenkins
