Shine a Light

04/18/22 • 17 min

This episode starts off thinking it is going to be a short one but Andy gets his guitar out to take you through Shine a Light, the last track he's looking at on his latest album This garden is only temporary and discovers how even the simplest song can contain hidden complexities. Some of these remain hidden after he tries to explain the chords (thanks to friend and mentor Joe Bennett for starting him off on this journey of explanation!)
On the way he refers to The Lyre of Orpheus, The Faces, My Perfect Cousin, his own songs Get Back Home, Between a Man and a Woman and the album Destination Beautiful, in particular The Government of Love.
It's been quite a ride through the album and the final episode next week should have two special guests, Steve who mixed and co-produced, and Kent who played drums.
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Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

Previous Episode

Design

This week a special guest drops in to the podcast, freelance designer Sebastian White. Sebastian has designed Andy's albums since 2014, and after chatting about granola for a bit, father and son discuss the process of conceptualising and realising the artwork for This garden is only temporary. They find the process is remarkably similar to that involved in writing and recording the songs, on the way talking about collecting ideas, balance, conceptual art, favourite album covers and psychological stepping stones. There is at least one Tale from a Rock'n'roll Childhood and Amy the goat contributes to the conversation several times.
Visual artists they discuss are Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter. The interview with Courtney Barnett is here and the album covers they mention are The Next Day, Dark Side of the Moon, Electric Warrior, Out There, Yeezus and The Life of Pablo.
If you haven't got a physical copy of the album you can see the artwork on Bandcamp (click the small icons) or Andy's Instagram.
Please share and subscribe and thanks for your support.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

Next Episode

Bass Priority

This week's penultimate episode is all about the bass and includes an official bass warning. Often hiding behind everything else, this one is all about the bass. Andy's looking at Bass Priority, a track that didn't make it onto his latest album This garden is only temporary and talking about the sequencing of an album. How important this is, and suggesting some ways you could go about it.
There are digressions on vulnerability in your playing style, leaving some musical ideas for another time, how the order tracks are recorded isn't necessarily the order you find them on the final version of the album, and things to think about if you're putting songs together for an album that will come out on vinyl.
On the way he mentions Seventeen Seconds and Hello, as well as his own albums Rave on Andy White and Garageband.
In this episode, the track is instrumental. The words were the last to arrive but turned out to be the start of his next album. In October 2023 Andy released the completed version of Bass Priority on Bandcamp. Take a listen to find out what happened next.
This is the penultimate episode of the first series. As ever, please share and subscribe.
See you next week.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com