Andy Boay

It’s been more than a decade since Andy Boay’s had a new release. Not that Andy White’s been slacking. In the interim his band with brother Edwin has put out at least seven releases, culminating in a pair of indispensable albums for Mexican Summer. It seems high time, though, for a return to the works as the Boay. Recorded to 8-track, with a keen focus on building each side into its own unique aura, the album embraces the echo-laden lysergic takes that were prevalent on Tonstartssbandht’s excellent 2021 album Petunia. The first side is noticeably looser than some of White’s previous work; a trio of songs worked out in the live sphere, cinched up and shot through a multi-track looper. The mood on the opening side is melancholy, a bittersweet bunch echoed around the room like lingering thoughts trapped in one’s head. Guitars bounce giddily off the wall as White swoons and sighs through the volley of reverberation.

The flip has gotten more of the promo treatment, a triptych proper that plays on the “Do You Hear What I Hear” theme. It’s an existential excavation dressed up in psych-pop proportions. More ornate than the first half of the album, the trio opens up with the mellotron-heavy chamber pop prance of “One & One.” The cavernous vocals remain, but there’s something more ornate, more measured about the works on side two. The overt opulence evens out by the time “Careless” hits the speakers, a more mercurial piece, slipping on surf, running ‘60s pop through the reverse wringer. Then, the album closes out with “I Want More,” the funhouse mirror of “One & One,” cooling out its fanfare and giving in to a subtle burble. The closer embraces the funk at the heart of the record, something that’s unsung, unmentioned, but still coursing through the veins of Andy Boay, finally poking through the pores as the album slides off into the sun. While the moniker remains something wholly unto itself, I’d be remiss not to say that this might be perfect companion piece to Petunia. Something more singular and rakishly indulgent that turns the personal into pop confections that keep the listener coming back again and again.