Today, Andy Shauf presents a music video for “Halloween Store” — one of “the best two songs on [Norm]…grounded by acoustic guitar but [featuring] lush instrumental breaks and repeating hooks” (Variety) – and announces a 2024 solo tour. In an enlightening interview with Stereogum in which he shared the story behind every song on the album, Shauf revealed “Halloween Store” was one of the first written for Norm, mulled over and reworked from when he envisioned it as a disco record. “It’s definitely a Halloween story,” he said, “I was hoping to put it out around Halloween, but I missed deadlines.” Now, with Halloween just around the corner, Shauf shines a flashlight on the much-adored Norm standout and “the album’s peak” (Treble). The hand-drawn “Halloween Store” video is charming and timely, a perfect visual accompaniment for the fast-approaching holiday.
Yesterday, Shauf kicked off his European solo tour in Dublin. A full list of dates is below:
Andy Shauf EU Tour Dates
Mon. Oct. 23 – Cork, IE @ St. Luke’s
Wed. Oct. 25 – Toulouse, FR @ Le Metronum
Thu. Oct. 26 – Barcelona, ES @ La Nau
Fri. Oct. 27 – Zaragoza, ES @ La Lata De Bombillas
Sun. Oct. 29 – Madrid, ES @ El Sol
Mon. Oct. 30 – Porto, PT @ Mouco
Wed. Nov. 1 – Kortrijk, BE @ De Kreun
Thu. Nov. 2 – Liège, BE @ Reflektor
Recently, Denmark’s Brodie Sessions released a special performance by Shauf and his band performing Norm’s title track, “Halloween Store” and “Sunset.” This was shot on 16mm and filmed at H.C. Ørsted Power Station in Copenhagen.
As hailed by Pitchfork, “[Shauf’s] eighth album, Norm, is his most meticulous and beguiling, straying from his semi-autobiographical past work to span three perspectives and tactfully downplaying its philosophical quandaries with his lushest arrangements to date.”
It was released earlier this year via ANTI- to a wealth of praise. Shauf wrote, performed and recorded the album in its entirety and enlisted Neal Pogue (Outkast, Tyler, The Creator) to mix. Pogue took the music’s sonic framework in a new direction, one with a greater sense of clarity and lots of space. Listen closely, and deep in the music, a shift happens as the world goes sideways. The tempo slows, vertigo slips in, or a discordant note appears. An uneasy clarinet phrase devolves into a busy signal. A lyric veers from a bird’s-eye-view to intimate thoughts. The result is a recognizable Shauf production, but with a flowing landscape of suppressed grooves propelling the songs toward uncertain destinations. He’s driving us out to a wild and dangerous place.
Purchase/Stream Norm