The debut long-player from the Illinois-based singer/songwriter,
Andy Warhol's Dream
arrives on the heels of a pair of well-received EPs that introduced audiences to the raspy-voiced troubadour's particular brand of retro-leaning indie folk. Recorded at
Steve Albini
's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, and featuring production work from
Richard Swift
,
Brandon Darner
, and
Foxygen
's
Jonathan Rado
, the 11-track set resonates with both warmth and danger, delivering tales of small town America via the tinted lenses of a young but well-traveled Midwesterner. Opener and lead single "High Beams" explores the vapidity of celebrity, and the sneering title track gets right to the heart of the matter, citing
Warhol
's judicious "15 minutes of fame" prediction as the impetus for the reality TV-era's infatuation with status and one-click consumerism. It's heady stuff, but it helps that the songs are catchy as hell, and once acclimated to
Sensor
's nasally snarl, which falls somewhere between
Wreckless Eric
Bob Dylan
Kyle Craft
Ezra Furman
, it becomes easy to see why he's generating such buzz from the very same machine that he rages against. ~ James Christopher Monger