Andy Macintrye – Melomania

Andy Macintrye – Melomania

E-MUSIC: https://www.emusic.com/album/134014043/Melomania

Andy Macintrye has been a force to reckon with in the Austin, Texas and indie music scenes for some time, but his latest EP release Melomania certainly conveys the sense of a songwriter and performer embarking on a new, wonderful leg of his journey. The six song EP begins with the track “Cocoon” showcasing the guest star skills of vocalist Jacqui Walker and, though she doesn’t make her presence felt through, Walker’s part in the song is particularly effective during her vocal interplay with Macintrye’s own voice. Mixing engineer Tim Palmer has given this EP a sound demanding your attention from the outset and “Cocoon” left me happy to hand it over. The strident introduction transitions into strong drumming with chiming guitars ringing out over the top and switching things up throughout to keep the dramatic effect strong. When Walker comes full on into the track later on, the guitar intensity ramps up and Palmer’s contributions from behind the glass juxtaposes her voice against Macintrye’s for maximum effect.

You can scarcely get more prototypical alternative indie rock than the title song, but it highlights a key reason why Macintrye’s mix of rock and classic sounds works so well. He has an unerring ear for leavening the potentially heavy handed rock theatrics of his writing with melodic exclamation points along the way – the beautifully rendered and diverse acoustic rhythm guitar running beneath the electric guitar helps color and fill out the sound of the song’s first half. Macintrye dispenses with it for the instrumental bridge and brings some hammer hard riffing into the picture for a nice change up. “Soul Survivor” is another example of how his traditionally minded, yet signature, melodic turns contrast so well with the highly individual elements of his style. I love the vocal melody for this one and Macintrye gets under the song’s skin with an attentive, deeply felt singing performance.

I like, as well, how he goes for the throat with the overwhelming bluesy stomp of “Juice”. It doesn’t kick off that way; the opening seems to position us for a far rootsier, muted effort than we’re accustomed to on Melomania before Macintrye figuratively takes off our heads with incendiary electric guitar. The EP’s penultimate number “Dumb” mixes in some artfully employed guitar effects with excellent results and hits the moodiest note on the release so far. It’s a song packed with subtle musical detours but you’ll be hard pressed to discern a single self indulgent note in the entire tune. The bass playing provides the song with a memorably fat pulse. Some listeners may detect a faint Nirvana influence in this song, but given a distinctive Macintrye spin. The last song “Blu Moon” returns us to more traditional territory for this EP and shines with the same melodic excellence we’ve heard with earlier songs, but there’s the added twist here of some upright jazzy bass underpinning significant parts of the song as well as understated percussion important in setting the song’s mood.  It’s easily Macintrye’s most soulful vocal on his latest release. Melomania definitely elevates Andy Macintrye to a new level.

I-TUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/melomania-ep/1328116392

Mindy McCall