Andrew James & The Steady Tiger

The degree of nuance and experimentation inherent to their approach makes it difficult to classify Andrew James and the Steady Tiger. It is still more difficult to explain how a guitarist and a drummer (not even half a rock band really) can create music so deeply layered and sonically diverse. In a reckless display of artistic impetuosity, the two men abandoned their previous commitments and begun their collaboration almost immediately after meeting in 2010. Together they explore a wide range of musical styles, including Rock, Roots, Folk and Americana but there is such a degree of nuance and experimentation inherent to their approach that makes it difficult to pin down. In 2011, they worked with producer Aron-Turest Swartz (founder of Freshly Ground) to produce their debut album, Red in Tooth and Claw, a collection of ten hypnotically beautiful, sincere and thoughtful songs. Virtuosos both (in the strict sense of the word), their capacity for creating music that compliments and augments their lyrical storytelling knows no bounds. Watching Andrew wield the acoustic guitar, lap slide and banjo, using a unique and mesmerising finger-picking technique, is an experience in itself. His relationship to his instruments, from which he can coax sounds as diverse as they are expressive, is one of obvious intimacy, even love. His voice is alternately plaintive, nostalgic, innocent and angered as he considers the consequences of our thinking and our actions in uncertain times. James, on the other hand, can extract a beat from a feather and a shoe if it were asked of him; seated at his drums he appears as a blur of limbs and crashing steel from which infectious rhythms emanate in metronomic waves. He also plays the cajon, darabukkah and frame drum, incorporating African and Middle Eastern rhythms to hypnotic effect. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.