John Andrews & The Yawn- Cookbook

John Andrews will admit he’s not the best cook. Though with his band The Yawns, the group’s approach to music is like that of a cozy, family-run, farm-to-table restaurant where songs and melodies, like a menu, are thoughtfully formed by their flavor and originality. Andrews’ new record Cookbook out now from Woodsist shares the recipes he scribbled down and refined over the past three years between solo cross-country travels, tours with friends’ bands, and ultimately relocating back to New Hampshire where The Yawns originated. His memories and observations, some sour and some sweet, are all significant in his musical kitchen. The ingredients were familiar and the recipes were recorded.

Hours were spent seated at his antique piano kneading the keys, whipping a few catchy plunks into irresistible earworms. Melodies marinated in his head during days spent chugging along America’s highways alone in his van. Answers to life’s deepest questions were printed onto kitschy gift shop doodads. John Andrews was the chef who didn’t need fancy utensils and measuring cups to make this meal. His portable cassette deck preserved the half-cooked ideas that came to him during his ramblings.

He moved back home with his mom for a few months, washing dishes after dinner to earn his keep while planning his next move. He continued his commission work creating wonderful, wiggly hand-painted stop-motion animations for new clients. In the end, he packed his bags for a new beginning in Dover, New Hampshire where he and his sweetheart share a little place near downtown. She’s a letter carrier and he trims cannabis at a farm just across the state line in Maine. Things were pretty good and the time to reap the harvest of his new batch of songs was right.

And now the Cookbook is finished. Dinner is ready. Admirers of John Andrews’ homespun charm will take the record into their lives and infer what the lyrics mean, shuffle the songs out of order, and interpret the music differently. That’s okay, though. Everyone bakes a different kind of casserole and they’re all usually pretty tasty.

Purchase John Andrews & The Yawns’ new album Cookbook out now via Woodsist.