Between Static and Fire

Andersens released a clutch of great, idiosyncratic indie-pop albums during the 2000s. They’re led by Kiyozaku Onozaki aka Tsuby, whose writing tends towards the expansive – while these songs often circle around a few lightly strummed guitar chords, he stretches this out with high-toned guitar lines, washes of reverb, meandering piano, and bass lines that throb and sing like the fluid bass playing of Naomi Yang in Galaxie 500. Indeed, the Andersens sound isn’t too far from that kind of shimmering, dream-like melancholy of groups like Galaxie 500 or Bedhead, though with a gentle breathiness that reminds a bit of the seemingly fey indie of the post-C86 brigade.