Tom Lynch

What can we expect from Andrew Kenny?

The whispery songsmith from the Austin-based school of indie heartache The American Analog Set, who has an entire bag of records behind him, has written his best yet in last month's "Set Free," traveling back to his colorful lo-fi roots of brushed drums and acoustic guitars. The vocals are as gentle as ever, as if a mere afterthought amongst a record of afterthoughts, a breeze-like swarm of lush secrets told at dusk. Kenny can't help but tell stories of ending relationships that will always be ending, never finding amiable solutions and in a constant state of bittersweet regret in the absence of addendum. That is, until, the album's closer, "Fuck This...I'm Leaving."

"I worked hella hard on this, dude. I worked the metaphorical fingers to the bone," says Kenny. It's a shock to hear him use the term "hella," let alone "dude." Kenny relocated from Austin to New York City--"New York's a humbling city to live in when you make mellow rock," he quips--in an effort to study biological science in a big-city academic environment, leaving most of his band-mates behind. This proved tricky in the writing and recording process of the record, especially since the band didn't have a label for support. "It was super difficult," Kenny says. "I kind of felt like I knew how much energy it would take, but it took longer than expected. Two-thirds of my energy was just arranging schedules and pouring finances, and flying myself around the country. Meanwhile I'm editing and mixing and writing and I'm running out of money in New York. [It was difficult to] organize everyone's creative efforts from afar. We can't make another record like this. It was too exhausting."

A serious feeling of accomplishment the band must have felt then, when the record was finally completed. "I can't even tell you," Kenny laughs. "On February eighth I mastered it. It was the day I knew that afterward, I wouldn't be able to change anything. When it was a disc, the sigh of relief was incredible. In my heart I will always remember that day, just being relieved, just thinking, `I'll worry about trying to find a label later.'"

The American Analog Set found a record label, indeed, in Canada's Arts & Crafts, which houses indie luminaries Broken Social Scene and Stars. "I've been a fan for while," says Kenny of the growing label. "I'm a big Broken Social Scene and Stars fan. You know, we're not Canadian and almost everyone on the label is, but I'm like `let's just get over that and jump into this family.'"

The centerpiece of "Set Free," a song titled "She's Half," proves Andrew Kenny should be better regarded than he is as a contemporary singer-songwriter. Consisting almost entirely of an acoustic guitar, a tambourine and layers upon layers of Kenny's pretty, melancholic voice, "She's Half" is enough to drive a person insane in its utter beauty and simplicity. The song is so gorgeous, I stumbled for minutes in an attempt to explain to Kenny how sentimentally wrecking it feels upon first listen. "I worked so hard on that song," he says. "It just got darker and darker and I loved it more and more. I maxed myself out on that song. I did it all by myself. It's one of my favorites that we've ever done."

Kenny says that "Set Free" is a culmination of the band's previous two records, as he continues stories on the new record that began long ago. "I really think this is the last chapter," he says. "Lyrically, I reflected on stories that I began on the last two records. The promise of love. It's an angular-sounding record for me, and that fits really well with what the record is about. The horrible things people do. The theme of setting them free. For better or worse, the story needs to end. I think the record is about giving up in a way, how you learn to deal with the things you overcome or are overcome by. I kind of feel that it all ended in a way I couldn't predict."

Maybe Kenny couldn't predict his own love life. "I have a sweetheart up here in New York," he announces. "We're recently engaged. She has a career in the city. Our wedding's in Austin, though. But I'm gonna be stuck in New York for a while."

American Analog Set plays October 20 at Schubas, 3159 North Southport, (773)525-2508.

(2005-10-18)

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