It is known Buffalo is teeming with talented musicians. There are but a handful of those musicians whose relentless dedication to their craft leads them to explore multiple genre avenues at the same time, trading spare time for practice hours and rehearsal sessions, earning accolades for some of the hardest working musicians in Buffalo. Andy Pothier is one of those musicians. Maintaining roles in an Americana folk band, a psychedelic band, and fronting his own frenetic punk outfit, all while steadily putting out material from his acoustic solo project, Pothier lives right up to that aforementioned accolade.
His latest effort, Keep Him On Your Mind, hits us from his most vulnerable but also his most comfortable outfit—the solo acoustic Pothier that many know and love. It is from this project which most of his sonic offerings pour, and KHOYM finds solace in that formula, a fleeting EP of delicate and marginally devastating introspection. However the 4 song EP seems to be an outlet of poetry above most else, drawing comparisons to those early Bright Eyes albums or a bandless Sam Beam.
Thematically, the album seems to gravitate on loss, love, separation, and resilience, with the tone and pace of the tracks strengthening each respective theme. “Your voice hanging over / like a pale impending winter” sighs Pothier on opening track “Fleeting, Faint Whisper,” his vocal delivery offering a strong symbiosis with the carefully plucked acoustic melodies. Picking up the tempo on “For, Gubby,” the song from which the EP draws its title, Pothier polishes the storytelling song style that differentiates his craft from standard folk contemporaries. “Three Oaks, MI” harnesses a captivating lyricism, and “Tired and so on, etc.” suitably closes the 4 song EP, as if the emotionally-baring tracks that precede have sapped the songwriter of his energies.
Do you find yourself awake at 3am on a cool summer night unable to disengage your racing thoughts? Download this album. Are you a fan of modern folk music with a degree of lyrical purpose? Download this album. Are you just looking to freshen up your iopd? Do people still have those? Download this album.