Andy Crowe & The Eisen Family
Not Crying Today
Andy is a singer-songwriter from the midlands, UK who didn’t pick up the guitar until he was in his 20’s. He immediately started writing original material and had some local success around the area, but, as bands do, his broke up and he found himself searching for other writers and projects, in addition to continuing to write as a solo artist. He found some good mates and things seemed on the upswing, until COVID shut it all down again. Now, finally, he’s able to release this project with his band of friends, “the Eisen Family,” and work on getting the career he’s been working on for years. Here’s our review of “Not Crying Today.”
Produced by Dan Gallagher, the track starts lonely with an electric downstroke and Crowe’s high tenor. With the first phrase, we get the feeling this is going to be a sullen tale. With the chord choice employed at the end of the second phrase, we know we’re wrong - this is going to be uplifting. We love it when chord changes surprise us like that. Lyrics are highly introspective and the guitar tones are lush with reverb and old school tones. Emphasis is kept on the message where it should be. With the first chorus, we start to get a glimpse of the band and the message - I found my way, I’m grateful for my mistakes - leads us to feel that we’re listening to a Southern Revival Rock Band from Mississippi and we’re hooked on where it’s going to go next. Great chord progression.
Second verse - love that major 3 chord - and the tones that are creating an emotional tornado? Is that a lap steel or B3 run through distortion and verb? Who cares - it’s cool. It’s like Brian Eno and Tom Dowd joined forces to mix and produce this. When the chorus drops, we finally get the drums and a solid group of BG’s. Great singalong chorus. At 2:30, the bridge drops and we’re in church, testifying. Uncommon chord progression continues as we get a bit of a breakdown in the third verse before another chorus drops (and the congregation joins in). Chorus repeats and then we get an outro that’s like the intro - just Andy and a guitar - but it’s not as desolate and sad as our initial thoughts. It’s joyful. This is a fun track that could go on and on. It would be great to see this live and watch them blow out a solo section - there’s lot of opportunity there to turn this into a heavy jam.
Make sure you scroll down, check out his socials and his other tracks. There’s something to be said for writers who pick up their instruments later in life (a great example of this is the American folk artist, David Wilcox). They’ll always have a different perspective and aren’t beaten down by years of theory lessons and “you can’t play THAT chord with this progression!” type of thought. If we ever make it back to the UK, this would be a great song to catch like - go check it out!