Andy Smythe first caught my ear with “The Drought is Coming,” a song that put the issue of climate change and our attitude towards the planet we call home front and centre, reminding me that music can be a powerful voice, both literally and metaphorically. The new single, “Life of a Man,” sees him focus on more personal concerns, such as the increasing hardships facing the younger generation as they try to make their way in an adult world, a world far removed from the one the previous generation grew up in. Zero-hours contracts, job scarcity, unaffordable rents, prohibitive costs of higher education, AI fakery, and feeling like a lone, unheard voice in the wilderness: “Life of a Man” is an anthem for doomed youth if ever there was one.
But the great thing about Smythe’s songs is that, even when they are at their most questioning and bleak, they are sonically upbeat, the music adding an unspoken element of hope and possibility that balances the lyrics.
And, although some might have him pegged as a singer-songwriter, his songs go way beyond such a solo style. Here, there is a jaunt and groove at work – beats shuffle, guitars glow or growl as required, and a mournful trumpet adds a wistful element to the proceedings.
Taken from the forthcoming album Quiet Revolution, this is just one song that examines the trials and challenges of the modern world, especially from the perspective of someone just starting out on that path. And if you want to gauge just how earnest and aware Andy Smythe is, I reckon there can’t be many songs (outside of perhaps a Billy Bragg penned ditty,) that owe their lyrical hook to the works of renowned philosopher and political theorist Thomas Hobbes.
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