Andrew Combs' Releases New Album 'Sundays'

Acclaimed artist Andrew Combs has released his new album Sundays via Tone Tree (US)/Loose Records (UK/EU). Recorded entirely in mono, Sundays moves away from the Americana-inflected instrumentation of his previous work and into darker territory, with a sparse, cinematic silence reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman's films.

The album has already garnered praise from press including BrooklynVegan, NPR Music, Atwood Magazine, and No Depression, who said "An underappreciated artist who continually reexamines himself, stretches, and ultimately evolves into someone new, Combs is, in some ways, a master of disguise, just as dexterous in his songwriting as the hook-heavy showman as he is the somber introvert."

Sundays came together on the heels of a mental breakdown that Combs experienced at the end of 2020 amid the long, monotonous grind of an ongoing global pandemic. As he turned to the practice of transcendental meditation to help find balance, Combs began going into the studio every Sunday with the goal of capturing a song he penned the previous week.

The resulting 11-song collection offers a deep dive into his fragmented subconscious, centered around a pervasive sense of quiet hope. From the reflective single "The Ship" to the optimistically existential "(God)less" to the minimalist "Anna Please," Sundays asks listeners to slow down and find some semblance of grace and importance in the chaos of the world right now.

Andrew Combs co-produced Sundays with Jordan Lehning (Caitlin Rose, Caroline Spence, Rodney Crowell), with additional arrangements from Dominic Billett (drums for Erin Rae, Julia Jacklin, Courtney Marie Andrews). The album's minimal approach lies in stark contrast to the maximalist production of his earlier work, including 2015's All These Dreams, which received extensive praise from NPR and American Songwriter, and 2019's Ideal Man, which impressed the likes of Rolling Stone and No Depression.

Sundays trades in lush strings, longing pedal steel and fingerpicked acoustic guitar for a lonely, thumb-strummed electric sound and brooding woodwinds that set the stage for deep introspection. As we make our way through the album, it feels as though an almost-imperceptible progression is happening, a movement toward some kind of resolve, at least, if not peace.

Watch the "Anna Please" music video here:

Listen to the new album here: