For years, Kyle Andrews has struggled with a dirty secret. He was, in the eyes of so many, a "singer-songwriter", his past pockmarked with words like "sweet," "catchy," and perhaps most often of all, "bedroom." However, according to Kyle, his latest full-length release Robot Learn Love only sounds like a bedroom pop album if your bedroom happens to be on an escape shuttle hurtling towards an exploding star.
Robot Learn Love is probably the closest Kyle Andrews has come to a concept album. Throughout, he explores themes of modern life -- love, heartbreak, hurt, and longing-- experienced through the filter of technology. "We work, create art, and communicate every day through some sort of computer device, some sort of robot," Kyle says. The album itself is a product of its theme: from the album art, inspired by a cellphone snapshot sent from the other side of the world, to the instant message abbreviations in song titles, and the composite of vocals collected by email in a single afternoon to form the chorus of "Lazer Tag With Imaginary Friends."
Despite its walls of electric guitars, raw synths and blasting drums, Robot Learn Love was conceived and recorded almost exclusively by Kyle himself. Robot is an exercise in duality: lo-fi vocals recorded through built-in laptop mics, others recorded through top-of-the-line studio preamps, drums simulated with software in the bedroom, and backing live string players tracked at pro recording studios. Half drowning in a swirl of stuttering synths, Andrews' plaintive cry, "Why's it got to be so complex?" at last gives way to a rest, a breath, only to be sucked back into the lush chaos. Throughout, Andrews balances the bombastic sonic textures with personality and warmth.
Genre seems to shift between dance, pop-rock and indie electro-pop more effortlessly than Andrews' previous albums, and even when fully synthesized, feels more "live" and fierce than ever. Full band in tow, the live show exudes an energetic, rock 'n roll vibe that is twice as loud as anything he has managed to capture in the studio until now. If Kyle Andrews is the robot who has learned to love, he has also learned to rock.
Robot Learn Love will be in stores August 16th, 2011. Lazer Tag with Imaginary Friends single, featuring the original and instrumental version, will be available digitally June 6th.
You might remember Kyle's music from his music video for "You Always Make Me Smile", which went viral last summer and reached over a million views in two weeks! It featured the world's largest water balloon fight. Or maybe you've seen his video for "Sushi" which was shortlisted for the Guggenheim Museums YouTube Play exhibit.
Or of course it's possible you've heard his songs in commercials for Holiday Inn, Doritos, Dell, Playstation, or Chex Mix, or while watching Grey's Anatomy or Lie to Me on tv, or in a Nike Snowboard film!
Source: http://www.kyleandrews.com/bio
