by DAVID KERN

Long known for his emotionally driven, powerful, interactive and forward thinking live performances (which have included such things as singing tabletop and video montages), Andy Zipf is one of the best indie musicians you’ve probably never heard of. Often compared to artists like Jeff Buckley and Bono, and seemingly influenced by artists like The Beach Boys, Sigur Ros and Radiohead, Zipf is able to meld heart on sleeve delivery with abundantly poetic lyrics to create a lovely, sometimes epic product, complete with vast soundscapes as well as intimate lullabies.

But Zipf is certainly unconventional in many ways. He doesn’t release full length LPs in any format, instead choosing to periodically release digital form EPs, such as his brand new The Coward’s Choir, now available on his website for a pay-whatever-you-want fee. Included in the new digital download are liner notes with complete lyrics and beautiful, hand painted illustrations, created by Zipf’s brother, Nate (Note: the EP downloads as a single track, thus fusing each of the four songs together).

Andy believes that the relationship between artist and listener is an intimate, powerful bond and he believes that the consummation of that relationship is in the live show, that music shared can bring people together and change lives. So, in what could be described as a sort of missional fashion, Zipf tours regularly, from coast to coast, consistently drawing new, passionate fans his mantra always that “we’re all in this together.”

On display on this new EP are Zipf’s insights into the paradoxes and complications of life and, more specifically, of love as evidenced by the paradoxical nature of his sound. He has a superb ability, like all great musicians do, to glide smoothly between different tones. The opening track, “Over the Mountain” - not surprisingly a song of journey and desire - begins with a toned down collage of ambient noise, acoustic guitar and clear vocals that eventually build to a bold, energetic climax reminiscent of U2. However, the next songs are more quiet, like lovely ballads, mournful but beautiful, tragic but hopeful, paradoxes that come across really well in Zipf’s poetic lyrics.

Check out this lyrical sample from the final song on this new EP, “We Will Carry the Weight”:

It opens:

You are the compass and the path
You’re the one I follow back
A tower on the shoreline when
I’ve been drifting from this land

I know time is ticking strong
The load is heavy, days are long
Our stride is steady, it is straigh
We will carry the weight.

Nary a word out of place or worthless here. This is good poetry period, poetry proper, whether there’s a melody with it or not. In this case, though, there is - and a lovely one at that. Zipf has always had a knack for crafting haunting love songs that capture the paradoxes of love and relationship beautifully. Much like Bono I’d say.

Consider also these lovely lyrics from “Like A River:”

Have you ever been cheated by the thing you most desire,
Kept locked down deep in the cages of your mind
In an old glass jar, so you can see, but never touch?
Oh, you’re givin all you can, but your givin ain’t enough.

We will run like rivers, into oceans, out of time
Children become old men, become graves under ground,
But if our fathers will forgive us, we could start again,
Running over, like a river.

Here again is paradox. Doubt but hope, fear but promise, loss but forgiveness, stasis but change.

These are songs that are pure Andy Zipf - although perhaps less “rocky” than some of his other tracks - songs that will translate wonderfully to his live performances and will surely be songs his followers sing along to, eyes closed, enjoying the subtle beauty, enjoying the community that the arts can breed.

As is true of much of Zipf’s music, these four songs are filled with introspection and recollection; they are the record of a life lived, often fully though not always well. But, in the end, the living is beautiful. Andy Zipf’s music affirms life, in all it’s paradoxical, broken grandeur; for it’s vast horizons and deep seas and for how it’s lived in time and place and how, well, when it comes down to it, we’re all in it together.

Check out the EP. It’s fantastic.

David Kern, the editor-in-chief of Into the Hill, lives in North Carolina.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 7:12 pm and is filed under Album Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.