Andrew Combs

Andrew Combs is a singer and songwriter whose work bridges the freedom and possibility of his visual art with the influence of classic writing and storytelling. On his new album, Ideal Man, Combs worked with producer/engineer Sam Cohen (Kevin Morby, Benjamin Booker)  to achieve a more raw, direct sound.  The collection was captured live in Cohen’s Brooklyn studio, with compact, muscular arrangements fueled by taut, elastic grooves, and also featuring Combs’ longtime collaborators, drummer Dom Billet and guitarist/keyboardist/bassist Jerry Bernhardt. While Combs may be best known as a singer/songwriter in the classic 1970s Laurel Canyon sense of the term, he proves the true versatility of his work here, often setting his acoustic aside in favor of atmospheric synthesizers and distorted electric guitars. The songwriting for Ideal Man was partly inspired by Combs’ recent fascination with painting. Combs started painting when his wife was pregnant. (They welcomed a daughter in 2017.) “It really changed the way that I write songs,” he reflects. “When I paint, I might start with a very abstract idea or maybe even just a feeling, but from there I’ll paint and scrape and paint and erase and keep on painting until something starts to take shape. I just let nature play out.” 

Support act: Biography - Olivia Degen
‘Olivia Degen’ is a duo that consists of visual artist/songwriter Olivia Degen (2002) and
guitarist/composer Benjamin de Raad (1998), based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Having studied
music at the same school in the past, the duo was formed in 2023 when the two reconnected
based on their shared interest in analogue, close-mic recording. Together, they make serene,
atmospheric, contemporary folk music. The duo is inspired by influences ranging from folk
musicians such as Jessica Pratt and Aldous Harding to the Brazilian musical genre Bossa
Nova.

During the summer of 2024, the duo started working on recording their debut album. They take
an unconventional approach where lyrics and harmony are written simultaneously; not focusing
on customary musical theory but rather choosing to be led by ear and experimentation.Typical
for their set-up is close-miking and recording on a 4-track cassette recorder. This approach
leads to a registration of not only the vocals and guitar, but also of the atmosphere, environment
and physicality of the music. This creates a sense of both space and proximity. The duo’s live
performances are characterized by a feeling of closeness; allowing the audience to listen in on
carefully constructed music.

Olivia Degen plans to release their debut album in spring 2025. Until then, the duo has multiple
gigs lined up, including support acts for Andrew Combs and Jordan Klassen.