The Dayton-based musician, performing at the Yellow Cab Building in Dayton on Friday, July 28, released his second solo album, “Plenum Castle” on July 14. It’s pure pop-rock with sing-along choruses and indelible vocal and musical hooks. The dreamy, keyboard-heavy album is quite a departure from Gabbard’s grunge-pop debut, “Fluff” (2015).
“I didn’t want it to sound like my first album,” Gabbard said. “That’s just where I was at, I guess. I didn’t force it or anything but I tried to record it differently. I demoed the songs a lot to try different stuff and do some things I’d never done before. It’s the album I’ve always wanted to make on my own.”
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On songs like “Fireworks,” “The Dance” and “Moonlight Skating,” Gabbard’s lyrics explore dating, young love and other coming-of-age concerns.
"The whole album is super childish," he said. "In a way it's kind of a concept album, because of the way my brain was working at the time. Sometimes I'd write a song about one of my kids or somebody presently in my life and then I'd instantly jump back into writing about a school dance in sixth grade. At the time I had a lot of that nostalgic stuff in my head, but I got it out of my system with this record.
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“I’m just trying to be myself and as a big fan of music, it’s really hard to do that sometimes,” Gabbard said. “I’m trying not to be so serious. For a long time, when I was writing songs I felt like I was preaching or trying to teach some kind of lesson. I don’t want to act like I have all this knowledge that I don’t.”
That laid-back approach worked for the prolific songwriter, who has already completed another pair of solo albums. A new Buffalo Killers album will be released in October.
“I have friends that get discouraged when they work hard on something and it comes out and they don’t become a star or something,” he said. “I’ve lost any delusions about that. I really don’t have any goals as an artist but I have so many songs and that’s why I started doing this. It’s been great to have an outlet to get everything out there.”
WANT TO GO?
Who: Andy Gabbard with This Pine Box and Shrug
Where: Yellow Cab Bldg., 700 E. Fourth St., Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Friday, July 28
Cost: General admission $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets for 21 and younger are $12 in advance, $15 at the door
More info: www.yellowcabtavern.com
Artist info: www.facebook.com/andygabbardmusic
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