Andy Crofts

Some records can take a moment to reveal their intentions or the artist's state of mind; not this one. By the time you’ve finished the opening track and lead single “Blue” you know exactly what this record is built upon; artistic freedom, and an artist who wants to make a record for the pure love of making records, done in his way. ‘Melody Boy’ is Andy Croft's debut solo album. Crofts said that “It was written and self produced alone in a small beach hut on the English coast fairly cut off, which shaped the feel of it” and it shows.

Every track washes over you with a sense of nostalgia that feels so fresh. It’s like if The Beach Boys and The Beatles had a lovechild whilst riding on a lambretta along the English coast. The groove of tracks like ‘Meet Again’ and ‘Dont Think’ has such a mod feel to them, with the repetitive chorus that can’t help but become an earworm after just a couple of listens. ‘Melody Boy’ is such a fitting title for the record as all of these songs are built on such strong melodies which only rings true with this sense of nostalgia that is instilled in you early on.


And yet there’s so much that feels so fresh. ‘On The Beach’ has such a Tame Impala feel to it. Like resting along the sands whilst watching the waves crashing and flowing, flickering in between light and shade. The song has such a stillness and relaxation to it. It's soft psychedelic rock at its most soothing, gently pulling you into the world that crofts has created.


Crofts shows such vulnerability in the track ‘All I need’ weaving through the static to hit with the chorus of “All I need is a shoulder to cry on”. It’s brave songwriting and another example of Crofts writing about exactly what these songs mean to him, conveying his emotion throughout. There's no attempt in trying to hide his emotion and it’s the heartbeat of the song, making the vulnerability all the more damning.


Melody Boy is a record that never shies away from its inspirations, but equally never feels constrained. Echoes of artists like The Beatles and The Beach Boys is not simply concocting a formula of what once was, but instead taking what they once captured and reshaping it into a more personal sound. A large part of this may come from the environment of which it was created in. There must be such an intimacy about recording alone in a small beach hut that couldn't help but affect these songs in such a unique way.

Away from the pressures of other influences in a highly rigorous studio project, Crofts is allowed to create his own world, and it shows. There's a sense of these songs being able to evolve into whatever final evolution they were destined to be, rather than to be churned out without care.