Photo By V. Lee
Andy Sydow writes music for solitary souls. Usually with a full band and a more rock and roll sound, Sydow’s Head Room Session offers a more folk-heavy take of his songs. His songwriting, vocal chops, and guitar playing all compliment this sound. He’s the embodiment of the archetypical alone but not lonely folk singer, rambling on to what will come. Whether it’s with the full band or Sydow performing solo, you will get a full sound from a full heart that’s always got more breaking to do.
“Shame on Me,” starts and ends with, “I’m the penny you left in the wishing well. Then you walked away so happily.” Several times throughout the tune, “shame on me,” repeats. The metaphor and condemnation capture the challenge of being someone’s highest hope. The mistake is in allowing such high hopes to be placed in something so insignificant. The idea contains the simple complexity of Sydow’s songwriting. With just the turn of a phrase, he captures the paradox of wanting to be everything for someone who wants you to be, while it’s an impossible desire that leaves both parties in different and misleading states of disarray.
“Alibi” offers a similarly isolated protagonist. A hard drinking hardly working character questions the daily struggle of slogging through a life with little reward. Sydow’s songwriting here paints the picture of the fruitlessness of a hamster wheel. Keeping moving just for the sake is no way to paradise, but it’s a reality we find ourselves slipping into whenever we let our guard down. The refrain, “Waiting for my paradise. All I need is an alibi,” captures the trouble of complacency. Waiting is just that. It’s comfortable, so we find ourselves inevitably gravitating toward it. However, Sydow is far from complacent, as he can regularly be seen and heard performing live. While his songwriting is filled with the wisdom of knowing complacency is never far off, his performance is the product of working away from that place of comfort.