John Andrews & The Yawns Bit By The Fang

“Bit by the Fang is the first solo album from singer / songwriter John Andrews and his imaginary backup band The Yawns. Andrews began recording the album in 2013 while working at a Salvation Army in the Amish country of Lancaster, PA, his home at the time. As the new year rolled around, he followed a demanding schedule of writing, recording and touring with both Quilt (drums) and Woods (keys). It wasn’t until a well-earned break that he found the time and energy to complete the solo record he started months before. He recounts the difficulties involved: ‘Traveling so much caused my whole living scenario in PA to kind of fall apart,’ he tells, lamenting over the comfort only home can provide. As he moved back to his hometown of Yardville, NJ, he set up camp in his grandparents’ empty living room to record and perform everything entirely by himself once again. “Warm acoustic guitars, honky-tonk piano, lap steel, singing saw and fluttering violins all sing together on this well crafted, yet comfortingly sloppy, psych-country / R&B record. A self-taught piano player, Andrews maneuvers with the precision of a player well beyond his years. Lyrically and stylistically he tackles the subject of death with the lightheartedness of a Saturday morning cartoon in ‘”I’ll Go to Your Funeral (If You Go to Mine).’ It’s hard not to conjure comparisons to Michael Hurley, Daniel Johnston or Kevin Ayers. This album is a great introduction to the grandiose fables of characters at the mercy of Andrews’s oddball mind.”—Jeffrey Silverstein