The debut EP from ANDI is based around different facets of mental health. Be it through her own experiences or her loved ones CEDAR WARD is a musical piece of healing. Having grown up visiting hospital wards and clinics from an early age, Amy created a fictional and non-fictional creative space to deal with past and present trauma.
The opening song HOUSEWIFE which was released early this year is a song that focuses on a feeling of despair and a desperate need to escape the mundane boredom of everyday routine. It touches on mental health, societal expectations and generally feeling low. The song slowly builds up tension towards a crescendo, the peak of which signifies a resistance to traditional values, and female empowerment.
‘Giving Up’, Andi’s previous release was written at a time of self-doubt. Amy had doubts whether to pursue music and let her inner thoughts sabotage her music career. The track, along with the very moving and powering music video, did very well and gained huge support from Hot Press, The Thin Air, The Last Mixed Tape, Golden Plec and The Verge Music News to name a few.
ITCH is a song about toxic relationships and Co-dependency.
CEDAR WARD is the title track from ANDI’S EP. It is based on mental health from a whole number of different perspectives based on Amy’s personal experience, her family, friends and news headlines.
ANDI states that “The whole EP was written at different times in my life. Housewife was written nearly ten years ago and I came back to finish it almost 8 years later, it brought up some past and present trauma but it’s healthy to acknowledge what wasn’t good for you in the past and how you have grown from it. Some of the songs were written during the early stages of lockdown for instance Cedar Ward. I was taken back by a tragic story on the news. It really affected me so I found myself furiously writing my feelings down and coming up with fictional and non-fictional scenarios which were influenced from growing up visiting mental health clinics which then formed the song and whole EP. We are all living in very hard times these days and it is so important to get that message out there that it is okay to not feel okay and to reach out for help. When I feel really low or very strongly about things I like to pick up the guitar and write how I am feeling. It’s very therapeutic and sometimes it ends up sounding like pure tripe, other times I might be lucky enough to get a solid tune from it but the main thing is I feel a lot better afterwards. We need to mind ourselves.”
ANDI is the new project from Amy Kelly, in which she steps out into the spotlight. Amy is a performer and ANDI showcases not just her presence as a live act but also her skill as a songwriter. ANDI started as an acoustic 2-piece and initially developed into a full band for a performance at Knockanstockan Music Festival in 2019. A stream of shows later that year led to the recording of ANDI’s debut single, ‘Hermit’.‘Hermit’ took influence from Tame Impala, The Pixies, Jeff Buckley & Elliot Smith. It was featured in Nialler 9, Hotpress, The Last Mixtape, it was featured on a number of Spotify Playlists and received national radio airplay.
In February 2021 ANDI released Housewife which had already received reviews and features from the likes of Hotpress magazine, Imro Ireland and Golden plec as well as some national airplay and Spotify playlists. Housewife is a dramatic song about feeling trapped in an everyday routine, societal expectations of women and the boredom of normal life. This is the first single from the upcoming Cedar Ward EP. Having been chosen as ‘Whelan’s ones to watch ‘, A sold out show in The Grand social and SIN E this autumn, ANDI is an artist you want to keep your eye on this year.
ANDI’s recent release in September, ‘Giving UP’ took up press support by storm with features in HotPress, The Last Mixed Tape, The Thin Air, Ick Mag, Golden Plec, The Verge Music News, Music from The Heart and Spotify Playlist’s such as Signal Flow. She is now ready to release her Debut EP which is her most powerful piece of work to date, proving that she is a unique artist that is on the rise.
She is set to launch her debut EP in Dublin’s Iconic venue Whelans on November 12th.
