The idea of our Tiny Desk is to seize artists up shut and private, a design that could not be a greater match for Andrew Combs‘ current music. He and his band loaded in the usual drums, bass, guitar and keys — even a saxophone or two — behind the Desk, however Combs deploys the devices sparingly in clear preparations that delicately undergird his delicate, excessive tenor and falsetto vocal stylings.
He’s a risk-taker in his singing, songwriting and even in his visible artwork. The Nashville-based artist boldly moved away from his Americana pigeon-hole on his album Perfect Man, brilliantly flirting with rock and pop. His newest, Sundays, which this Tiny Desk set depends closely on, was one other left flip. Impressed by his private struggles amid the peak of the pandemic, Combs recorded the album in mono, giving these contemplative songs the intimacy of lounge performances.
<script type=”text/javascript”> atOptions = { ‘key’ : ‘015c8be4e71a4865c4e9bcc7727c80de’, ‘format’ : ‘iframe’, ‘height’ : 60, ‘width’ : 468, ‘params’ : {} }; document.write(‘<scr’ + ‘ipt type=”text/javascript” src=”//animosityknockedgorgeous.com/015c8be4e71a4865c4e9bcc7727c80de/invoke.js”></scr’ + ‘ipt>’); </script><\/p>
Combs builds this set artfully. He begins with the incantatory “Shall We Go?” impressed by Samuel Beckett’s play Ready for Godot, sliding proper into “Anna Please,” based mostly on Ingmar Bergman’s devastating movie Cries and Whispers — two theatrical works exploring the absurd nature of life and the quotidian horror of demise. {That a} music like “(God)much less” follows, must be no shock. “It is about discovering magnificence within the chaos,” Combs says.
After which, as if to remind us that not all is misplaced, he ends with a love music so candy and pure it may take your breath away. Combs is an artist who retains difficult himself and us. And is not that what nice artwork is meant to do?
SET LIST
- “Shall We Go?”
- “Anna Please”
- “(God)much less”
- “Like A Feather”
MUSICIANS
- Andrew Combs: vocals, electrical guitar
- Caleb Hickman: piano, sax
- Dominic Billett: drums, electrical bass, vocals
- Jerry Bernhardt: electrical guitar and bass, vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
- Producer: Tom Huizenga
- Director/Editor: Maia Stern
- Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
- Collection Producer: Bobby Carter
- Inventive Director: Bob Boilen
- Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Keren Carrión, Kara Body
- Audio Assistant: Alex Drewenskus
- Manufacturing Assistants: Sofia Seidel, Jill Britton
- Tiny Desk Staff: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván
- VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
- Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann