The Andalusians craft a sound that is more akin to the Pixies, Throwing Muses and the freewheeling alternative rock of late night MTV circa 1989 than any of their Dischord Records peers. The group is the main vehicle for songwriter Basla Andolsun, and her debut “Do the Work” 7-inch is out this month on Dischord Records.
There is sharp and womanly punk fire implied between the lines of songs on the three-song 7″ (+3 MP3s) such as “Do the Work” and “Religion,” and the gut-wrenching hooks — specifically in “Do the Work” — go straight to the pleasure centers of the brain. The band wields a sense of chemistry that’s casual, and vocalist/guitarist Andolsun pushes the art of pop song writing to a place that is distinctively her own, and that is delivered with subtlety and poise.
The Andalusians play at WonderRoot on Thurs., Feb. 12th.
You are the main songwriter behind the Andalusians, correct?
Yes. Generally the song writing process for the Andalusians is that I’ll have an idea and mess around with it for a while on my own. A lot of times I’ll use my 4-Track to lay down the basic idea. I usually put guitar, bass and vocals on it. I’m a bass player first and foremost although I mainly play guitar in this band. Consequently a lot of my song ideas start with a bass line, although sometimes I’ll start off with a vocal melody that’s been running through my head, or I’ll stumble across something that I think sounds cool on guitar and build a song around that. After I have the skeleton of the song down I’ll play it for my band mates and they’ll help me flesh it out until we’re all happy.
How does your role in this band differ from what you did with Beauty Pill?
I joined Beauty Pill after my old band Del Cielo recorded at Silver Sonya with Chad Clark. I had never heard Beauty Pill (or any of Chad’s music at that point) but he played me the Cigarette Girl From The Future EP and I was really into it. A few months later their bass player quit and they asked me to join.
Beauty Pill was actually a model for me for how I wanted to organize the Andalusians. I work well when there’s an established band leader. In Del Cielo Andrea was clearly the main song writer, in Beauty Pill Chad is, in Edie Sedgwick Justin is, and in the Andalusians I am. In theory I actually think having two or more people as the main creative force is ideal. It causes creative tension that often serves to strengthen the songs. When you have a couple of people who come from different places introducing ideas and putting a check on each other it can make for stronger music. The problem for me is that I don’t like hashing things out like that. I’m pretty non-confrontational and really dislike arguments, even productive ones. I’ll almost always defer to the other person to avoid confrontation. Being the clear band leader makes it possible for me to express my ideas and see them through as I envision them. That being said I have a tremendous amount of respect for my band mates, so when they make suggestions I listen.
“Do the Work” MP3
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Over the weekend Thrill Jockey announced that the label’s contribution to this year’s National Record Store Day (April 18) is a deluxe, handmade compilation LP titled Records Toreism. The LP is limited to 900 copies and features a drawing by Posttypography on one side. The flipside features a photo silk-screen by Crosshair. Both images portray record stores of the future, one shows the fruitful vision of what happens if you support these long-standing community institutions. The other portrays what will happen if you don’t.
