André Ethier

Andre Ethier goes solo for the second time and first since his band the Deadly Snakes released Porcella last fall. While the Snakes are serious musicians in garage rock clothing, Ethier sheds this skin and slithers into something more comfortable, as his music adopts a warm and relaxed pace that suits him. His debut, a collective effort entitled With Christopher Sandes Featuring Pickles and Price, drew praise for its Dylan-esque wanderings. Ethier’s Secondathallum also traverses an expanse crossed by Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, Mark Knopfler and Leonard Cohen before him, and stirs up the dust of humanity. Ethier’s songs are plain but ponderous explorations of folk, soul and blues; they’re songs that comfort and promise to stick around. His voice has strength and tenderness and the music strikes an easy balance between melancholy and fancy. It’s easy to listen too. The music’s classic sound could be written off as cliché if it wasn’t so good. Ethier exemplifies the stereotype in his persona: the down-trodden and poetically sensitive everyman, but he plays this card with a grin. Ethier’s story of love and loss has been told and retold though time, but the way he tells it is especially captivating.