Andrew Gabbard's first solo full-length, released December 3, 2021 on Karma Chief Records, the pop-leaning sister label to Cincinnati's deep-funk powerhouse Colemine. A Dayton, Ohio lifer, Gabbard cut his teeth in garage-rock outfit Thee Shams, co-founded Buffalo Killers with his brother Zachary, and has logged years of road work as a touring guitarist for The Black Keys. Homemade is exactly what the title says — a one-man-band record cut at home during the pandemic, with Gabbard playing every instrument himself.
Stylistically it's a love letter to late-'60s and early-'70s AM-radio pop: the sun-baked Beach Boys of Friends and Sunflower, Emitt Rhodes, Harry Nilsson, Neil Young's softer side, and a healthy dose of Byrds jangle. Mid-fi by design, but the songwriting and harmony stacking are the work of someone who's been doing this for two decades.
Cool stuff:
- One-man band, literally. Gabbard wrote, sang, and played every instrument on the record himself
- Day job: The Black Keys. Andrew and his brother Zach joined Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney's touring band in 2019 — Auerbach has been a Gabbard fan since the Thee Shams days
- Karma Chief is the pop side of Colemine Records, the same Loveland, Ohio label that puts out Monophonics and Durand Jones — but routed away from soul/funk toward power pop and indie rock
- Recorded at home during 2020-21 lockdown, which gave it the intimate, slightly woozy bedroom-pop feel even though the songcraft is anything but amateur
Spin it for: warm Sunday-morning pop with a Midwest accent, late-Beach-Boys harmonies, and the sense that the guy made the whole thing in his living room.
Standouts: "Cloud Of Smoke" · "Money Suit" · "I Don't Want To Make You Cry" · "Pretty Picture"
Sources: The Fire Note · Big Takeover · Bandcamp · Colemine Records · Buffalo Killers — Wikipedia