After having released a full album “The Bearer of Bad News” independently earlier this year, Saskatchewan based singer/songwriter Andy Shauf has just released a poppy 70’s glam style new single “Jenny Come Home” (which can be listened to here via NPR Music) as a way of announcing his signing to Anti Records.
While “Jenny Come Home” has the aforementioned poppy 70’s glam elements to it, the timbre and lyrics have some darker elements to them as well. There is a mild under tone of tension in the background during the entire song and it keeps you from getting too enamored in what would otherwise be a somewhat bubblegum-like atmosphere of the song. NPR Music goes into further detail, saying:
“Jenny Come Home” is bouncier than much of Shauf’s music, but no less heartbreaking. Sung from the perspective of a man who’s cheating on his wife or girlfriend, we learn that Jenny’s building has burned to ground. She then returns home only to find her man in bed with another woman. “You came upstairs and we were scrambling,” sings Shauf. “So she tried to make for the door. I swear you packed all your things and were gone before she. Jenny come home to me.”
It is always utterly fascinating when an artist will take otherwise pleasant sounding music and then put the absolute saddest or angriest lyrics to them. It’s a kind of cognitive dissonance that I hope many artists like Shauf continue to explore.
