Company by Andy Burrows [Album]

Andy Burrows immerses himself in the songwriting finery of Lennon and McCartney, creating a work of vintage acoustic guitar pop

What’s immediately apparent is that Burrows is a man schooled in the fineries of songwriting. There’s no shopping in the discount isle in the supermarket of musical influences, even the own brand finest selection is off limits. Burrows takes his pick from the greats of acoustic guitar driven pop songwriting, with nods made towards The Kinks, The Animals and the early works of Nick Drake and throws them into the songwriting basket that’s built from his expert multi-instrumentalism; It’s the vintage store for Andy. However, if one were to wander down the metaphorical isle of the songwriting influence isle what we would hear over the tannoy would be ‘can I get a price on The Beatles please’?

If it’s not in the Let It Be style piano piece that Hometown is built upon, or the Rubber Soul esque folk-pop of Somebody Calls Your Name, or his delicate Lennon/McCartney style vocal, then it’s the general pop skill with which Burrow’s goes about writing songs. Some songwriters just have the knack of making the excruciatingly difficult art of writing a fine pop melody sound so simple and Burrows has been positively drawn and then coloured in, very carefully between the lines, by that art.

Company betrays the confidence of a man so at ease with his music and so in tune with his influences that he need not pause to look, as he jumps on to the shopping trolley of his songwriting and pushes himself towards the smiling faces of all around. I do like surprises and Company is an absolutely fantastic surprise.

Verdict: Pop writing excellence from one schooled in the classics

Damien Girling

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