12. Andy Shauf - “Quite Like You”

I told you previously that Andy Shauf made one hell of a record (as evidenced by tracks #15 and #62 of this list). However, this jam right here is the crown jewel of said album. It’s storytelling at its finest, and a perfect example of why I have such a love affair with concept albums.

The concept album is a thing of beauty. It claims its own genre of writing – somewhere in between a play and a novel, balancing the two perfectly to pack substance into scarcity and infuse emotion with delivery and dialogue. Andy Shauf’s songwriting brings this scene to life in a way that’s immediately accessible and enjoyable. The lyrics allow you to imagine yourself at the party – a voyeur of the love triangle, watching as it unfolds in the corner of the crowded room. Whereas the instrumentals provide the perfect soundtrack to the scene. There’s a bouncing simplicity to the composition, a sort of drunken buzz for you to float along with, punctuated by brief moments of awkward – “oh shit” – bass-driven gaps of silence and palpitating flutters of piano-laced false hope and self-satisfaction. It’s a work of art and joy to witness. So go ahead and do some witnessing – oh, and the music video it pretty fantastic as well.