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ANDY DIXON |
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Mt. Career billows with a concentration of thick pop, live instrumentation, and multi-cultural musical references. It runs the gamut of emotion, from bitter sweet hooks to murky, claustrophobic dirges. Andy’s voice, guitar playing, and songwriting burst with a fresh, vibrant energy. There is a distinct but modest feeling of ‘finding his place’ living between the sounds of Mt. Career. Andy has had a long, yet humble relationship with his music. He is currently manipulating organic sounds into electro-acoustic, pseudo-dance pieces under the moniker Secret Mommy, playing guitar and singing in the outsider improvised rock trio, Winning, and running the experimental record label, Ache Records. Because of this, it is hard to nail down an appropriate designation for The Mice of Mt. Career. It would not be accurate to call it Andy’s debut solo album, although it is his first under his own name. There is no doubt, upon listening that this is not a linear continuation of Mr. Dixon’s previous solo works. For instance, Secret Mommy, a separate solo project is routed in deep, radical sound processing, and is also primarily instrumental (the rare times that vocals are present, in Secret Mommy it is hardly ever his own). Cradled from an overlapping yet distinctively separate atmosphere as Secret Mommy, it might be more apt to call Mt. Career a sequel of sorts, or a logical progression. The most prominent difference is the use of his own vocals. Mt. Career is not an electonica album, but a pop album awash with vocal anthems. Steering these choruses are lyrics too abstract to be preachy, yet blatant enough to be poignant. There is a socially aware and desperate sentiment present, often referencing the effects that capitalism has on the world, and more specifically, the art world. Words, ideas, and hyperboles spill sporadically over one another creating the lyrical equivalent of the great contradiction that is “The Business of Art”; a representation of the clumsy battle to earn a living while maintaining complete artistic integrity. Another difference between Mt. Career and Andy’s alternate solo outings as Secret Mommy is the care and appreciation of the sampling. Five years ago, Andy was releasing Mommy albums thick with cheeky top 40 sampling, drenched with cynicism and retort. Now, here is The Mice of Mt. Career, an album based around a genuine gratitude for the samples chosen. Literally spanning the globe of musical references, the ten songs dive deep into world-beat obscurity. African drums spin around Ukrainian folk violins and Indian rhythms, all the while a bed of cinematic phonograph crackle conjures deep, nostalgic undertones. It is Andy’s decade long affair with experimental music production that takes the helms here. His ear for melody and composition enables the marriage of some very unlikely musical allies. It is not entirely clear what the exact ethos of Mt Career is. There may be a handful of recognizable reference points (Bjork, Thom Yorke, Beruit), but there is no doubt that, due to its delivery, it transcends the sum of its parts. Mt. Career is birthed from the love of unbridled creation, the admiration of musicians outside of the major music industries infrastructure, and the rethinking of relationships between experimentalism and pop music.
Andy Dixon Website
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