Why Andy McGarvie's New Album Is A Comment On Break-Ups

If you're a fan of guitar-driven blues-rock with soul and pop sensibilities then Andy McGarvie and his band have your fix. Channelling "thousands of gigs experience" between them, McGarvie and crew, who met in high school, have completed McGarvie's debut LP, Not Soon Enough. Fourteen slices of tried and tested gold.

"Every single one of the songs [was] road-tested before recording, in lots of different guises — solo, trio format, acoustically, full-band sets," says McGarvie. "This meant that by the time we went into the studio we had a complete understanding of the form of the songs we were putting to tape." That studio was The Aviary, where they worked with the talented Sam Lowe.

"We chose the Aviary because we'd heard great sounding recordings come out of there," says McGarvie of the process. "We definitely wanted feeling and vibe on the bed tracks — and they were all recorded live. We did all 14 tracks in two days! I then went in and did the main vocals in another day and a half, and then all [the] mixing and overdubs were done at home."

Thematically, the album itself "kind of ended up being the story of the end of a relationship — mine ended just as we began recording this last year — as well as being a commentary on the media, especially social, and its impact on [our] current society and generation".

With such contemporary subject matter you'd be forgiven for thinking the material was written last month, though McGarvie says the songs developed over a much longer period. "Some would be written seven or eight years ago, possibly. This album is well overdue for me — hence its title!"