Andrew Duhon
The Moorings
Independent Andrew Duhon’s latest album starts off calmly enough, with one guitar and one melancholy bass note by Adam Campagna underlying Duhon’s serene lullaby voice on the opening track. A sweet violin by Jack Craft matches Duhon’s emotion. The music richens as more instruments are added, such as the solid drumbeat by Myles Weeks, but doesn’t lose its whimsical quality in doing so. “Evelyn” is also mid-tempo and saccharine, but has a more complex guitar melody by Duhon and louder drums for a more fun feel, and a steel guitar by Trina Shoemaker softly soars behind the vocals during the chorus. “Tandem Bike” begins with a nice acoustic guitar and a harmonica, like the beginning of Jimmy Buffet’s ballads. Duhon sings about the pretty girls he sees walking down Magazine Street during a lazy day in sunny New Orleans. He sings, “Darlin’, it’s you that I’d like to stumble into ,” then the harmonica belts out a short tune and gives way to a classic raggy piano riff. “Sidestep your Grave” has a much different feel than the entire beginning half of the album. A distorted slide-heavy guitar straight from the swamp plays a prominent, sexy Southern melody throughout the entire song, and Duhon has a slight tin-distortion and edge to his voice. The drums make a great beat for clapping or stomping along to. Unfortunately, this song is the shortest on the album, at just over three minutes. “Feelin’ Low Down” comes close to the intensity of “Grave,” but lacks the slide guitar. Andrew Duhon’s album is mostly serene and pleasant to listen to, and has those two rollicking moments to make the listener jump from their seat unexpectedly.
