Donnie Darko Composer Releases Debut Solo Album

Hand On String is an intrinsically beautiful amalgam of songs from LA based composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Michael Andrews.

Best known as a composer, Andrews has scored such contemporary cult classics as Me And You And Everyone We Know, Orange County and Donnie Darko, which included the celebrated arrangement of the Tears For Fears classic Mad World - a Christmas number 1 for Michael Andrews, featuring vocalist Gary Jules.

Michael Andrews naturally gravitates towards films that share an introverted quirkiness with his music; that are at one with the contemporary and yet somehow at odds with the everyday.

Hand On String, Michael Andrews’ debut solo album, reveals his considerable talents as a solo performer. He's a composer who can create a billowing sail of production and yet a troubadour capable of the most intimate of songs. Hand On String is an intimate and humble recording with a delicacy of touch that is in keeping with other musically elusive eccentrics like Nilsson, Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner and Cat Stevens - all alike in their indifference to the perceived notion of ‘singer-songwriter’ – Michael Andrews occupies that intangible creative space somewhere beyond the realms of contemporary popular music while sitting comfortably in the midst of an existing musical landscape.

His production credits include Inara George, Metric and Gary Jules’ platinum album Trading Snakeoil For Wolftickets. Michael Andrews' month-long residency at LA’s Tangier included guest appearances from Jarvis Cocker (whose home video of his performance of C*unts Are Still Running The World was a YouTube smash hit) and legendary Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks, with whom Michael is currently writing. Andrews was the frontman of The Origin – the first band signed to Hut Records – but it’s with Hand On String that he finally puts his own life under the musical microscope.

Recorded at his purpose-built home studio, Hand On String is a small window into his creative secret garden, exposing a world of whirling soundscapes, dancing guitar lines and charming songs. Hand On String celebrates life's triumphs and pitfalls, through the realisation of Michael Andrews’ gift for sound and songs. The songs and arrangements raise an eyebrow to the contradictions of the modern world, never seeking to bemoan their own place on the fringes, and revelling in their little moments of magic.

Michael Andrews will be showcasing tracks from his album at an exclusive one-off date in the Kensal Lounge at London’s Cobden Club on Feb 1st, returning for more dates in March.

It speak volumes that his favourite quote on his music comes not from a journalist, musical contemporary or radio DJ, but a posting on Amazon.com from an anonymous fan: “It’s the kind of music that gets you to thinking how miraculous it is to be alive, you know, like, ‘Hey, look at my hand and how all my fingers move when I want them to and what about all the blood that’s flowing through my body right now and what was the world like before I existed and what will it be like when I’m gone.’”

An anonymous, perfectly formed, view from the outside….

Album releases on April 23.