Andrew Combs Shares Vulnerable Single 'The Sea in Me'

Nashville-based singer-songwriter Andrew Combs shares “The Sea in Me,” the emotionally-charged new single from his sixth album Dream Pictures, out August 23 via Chunk of Coal / Missing Piece Records. Over softly played guitar and piano, the vulnerable song unfolds as a heartfelt confessional with the refrain: “I'm tired of the sea in me / I'm tired of deceiving you / And the sea in me.”

Combs on the new single: “I find it sort of hard to explain this song because on the surface it’s low stakes writing. Not in a bad way, but it’s a subject matter that I and others have tackled many times – love gone wrong/heartbreak. I had the chorus for years but knew there was something special behind the line, ‘I’m tired of the sea in me.’ It felt like a great visualization of the churning and burning humans feel pulling them in different directions at all times. I was thinking of my late teens and early twenties when wanderlust took hold of me and I decided that my roots, and relationships, and even my identity were all wrong – that I wouldn’t be tied down to one person or idea.”

“The Sea in Me” follows “Eventide,” a balmy ode to Combs’ wife that was named a Song You Need to Know by Rolling Stone. His forthcoming album Dream Pictures was written for the quiet hours that bring each day to a close. At night, after putting his children to bed, Combs would go into his garage to write, play his guitar, paint, and escape the world for a while. It was during those stretches of solitude at the end of the day when he penned these 12 songs.

“This record is about contentment: being at ease with who I am and where I am at in my life and career,” explains Combs. “It’s me sitting back at the end of each day and finding something that is inspiring, and embellishing on it. I don’t think many of these songs could’ve come if I was in turmoil. I think that dovetails with the album title because being at ease with who I am lets my imagination run wild and gives me the ability to dream.”

Co-produced by Combs and his drummer Dom Billett, Dream Pictures embraces all the imperfections that come with the homemade tracking process. With the exception of instrumentalist Spencer Cullum who contributed to pedal steel, the new album was entirely recorded and performed by Combs and Billett. Together, they struck a delicate balance between the rawness of recording and the finesse of Combs' songwriting, resisting the temptation to edit different takes together for a more polished product.

Dream Pictures is the follow-up to Combs’ 2022 album Sundays, which garnered praise from press including BrooklynVegan, Atwood Magazine and NPR Music, who invited him in for a Tiny Desk Concert. His 2019 release Ideal Man impressed the likes of Associated Press, No Depression and Rolling Stone, who said the album “bears the marks and textures of an artist who has figured out how to translate the varied sounds he hears in his head into his records.” Today, a decade after his first release, Andrew Combs continues to create art for modern times.

Dream Pictures Tracklist

1. Fly In My Wine

2. Eventide

3. Point Across

4. Heavy the Heart

5. Mary Gold

6. Your Eyes and Me

7. Genuine and Pure

8. I’m Fine

9. Table for Blue

10. To Love

11. The Sea in Me

10. Dream Pictures

Photo Credit: Austin Leih

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