Chapter 56

Rolling Stone

Anders André: Luminario

★★★★★

by Bentley Donns 

April 1, 2000

Barely a year after Lyondell’s bold Damsel Underdressed, Anders André arrives with his own masterpiece. The new André has done a total 180, as if Damsel had demanded he up his game. Asked and answered, Lyondell. The unrecognizable André on the album cover no longer sports the flowing blonde locks that graced suburban teen girls’ bedroom posters from coast to coast. Shorn, shaven, and suited in bespoke garments, André gazes off into the distance of a desert road in a black and white photo. Luminario’s eclectic tracks reveal a man trying to outrun his multiple demons: drugs, women, and if not mental illness, then self-destructive patterns. Whatever dark night of the soul prompted the turnaround, it’s mesmerizing. Gone are the dashed off pop ditties. This record charts the rough path of a boy becoming a man and an artist mastering his craft. The ubiquitous lead single Playing With Shadows, with its jangly guitars and lush Wall of Sound orchestration marks a mind-bending expansion of his capabilities. The rest of the songs stretch his sonic tableau from alt-country (Desolation) to blues (Monster Under The Bed) to psychadelica (Dreamcleaver), yet it all manages to feel of a piece, each song its own distinct jewel in a chest full of unexpected treasures. When he sings Monster Under The Bed, it’s a radio-friendly reminder of the unseen battles many fight just to get through the day. And when he croons “No formulas, no idea what works, just one step forward, two steps back, and steady by jerks” you believe he’s at the end of a rope, but resigned to swing to the next one. Make no mistake, André’s solo debut is an instant classic, the album of year, and an inevitable fixture of “best of” lists for many more to come. Get used to it.