Norm: Andy Shauf’s Newest Album and Titular Character

Written by Zoe Tevyaw, Photography by Abby Gillardi

Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Shauf released album #8 Norm on February 10th, bringing audiences into a new, captivating world of his own creation. Supported by subtly compelling production, the folk-centric nature of  Shauf’s writing allows the complexities of his storylines to shine through while still allowing for casual, engaged listening. The character-driven conceptual record takes off the rose-tinted glasses to explore ideas of love and God not in their ideal forms, but as they are. 

Shauf began his musical career as drummer for the Christian rock band Captain, a group of which he was a part until 2006 when he ventured into his own mind and solo art. Since his debut album of 2009 Darker Days, he has received several nominations for his songwriting along the Canadian awards circuit. After supporting The Lumineers on tour, 2019’s The Neon Skyline gave him a breakthrough with the title track being featured on Barack Obama’s 2020 summer playlist and propelled his work further into the musical public consciousness.

Norm, since its release, is being regarded as one of Shauf’s most elaborate and conscientious expeditions into higher ideas of life and love under a potentially fallible God. Earning a 7.6 from Pitchfork and a score of 79 on Metacritic, Norm proves digestible and thought-provoking while “never digging its heels in the narrative at the expense of its sound,” as described by Variety. 

The opening track “Wasted On You,” told from the perspective of God about a conversation He had with Jesus, sets the tone from the get go. The lyrics “Was all my love wasted on you?” repeated over perfectly content instrumentals at first may seem as wistful as any song about a failed relationship – but look a little further and that cavalier perspective takes on a sharper undertone that weaves itself throughout the following tracks. Influenced by reading the Bible and intending to write songs about those stories from God’s point of view, Shauf accidentally stumbled into yet another concept album. 

In an interview with Stereogum, Shauf provides a track-by-track analysis of the album and its dark, cerebral, and complex interweaving storylines. Norm volleys between three perspectives: God, an ex-lover, and Norm himself as they all navigate love in the presence of an omnipotence  that is still as unreliable a narrator as the mortals. His collaborations with Nick Olson as story editor and Neal Pogue as a mixer polished the project from scattered lyrics and concepts within Shauf’s own head into something followable to anyone listening intently enough. 

There are repurposed disco songs like “Halloween Store” alongside dark pieces like “Sunset” and “Daylight Dreaming” that describe the same kidnapping from two perspectives, all tied together by soft, acoustic sounds occasionally veering into horns and synt territory.Norm runs the emotional and spiritual gambits and offers provocative queries into love and religion without much of the blinding romanticization and reverence with which they are usually spoken of.