With his new single Memories, Andrew Cushin has declared he is the real deal.  It almost feels there is an unstoppable momentum and I feel Andrew Cushin will be in everyone’s ears in a year or two.

I don’t interview that many artists face to face but when I had chance to meet up with Andrew Cushin and his manager Leigh, back in pre-pandemic days, I jumped at the chance. What I saw was a thoroughly decent lad, enjoying all the opportunities that music was giving him and an eager desire to push it just to see how far it could go. Hahaha, Andrew was nice too.

With Memories, I can see much of what Cushin holds dear; family, love and working and teasing out the jigsaws of emotion. As a man and guitar in a small venue, when we met Andrew spoke about an ambition for a bigger, fuller sound and while he has kept his roots and his interests, it is complete.

I think we are in a time where the traditional man is redundant. In my father’s time, lives and roles and responsibilities were better defined. Of course, there was so much wrong with that all round, and it’s magnificent that things have changed. But, at the same time, it’s left many of us struggling to find our way on, and it can be hard to turn to someone else for advice even if you can articulate it. Cushin’s song Memories explores mental health in men and finding a way forward to what’s expected, and perhaps letting the big things drift and feeling a bit lost. A mighty huge topic for a few verses, but here it is, eloquent and honest.

Musically too this is the real deal. There’s a feel for a much more established artist here; dare I mention Noel and HFB? There’s also a feel for another bold artist who cuts his own path through the music industry rubbish, Jake Bugg. Grand, confident, assured and complete are words I jotted down on my listens to this track. Andrew Cushin is just 20 years old.

In introducing the track Cushin says: “Time will tell how this track is received, but quite frankly, I’ve already done everything I wanted to achieve in the “Memories” project. Love you all and enjoy”.

Andrew Cushin is out and about on stage this autumn, and it is probably going to be your last chance to be in a small enough venue to be able to share virus strains, and to see Cushin face to face. I find Andrew Cushin’s live performances so alive; emotions run through the audience, be it with his chat between the songs, his song subject matter, or being rapt with others in the room. Dates include Leeds Hyde Park Book Club on 2 December and Manchester Yes on 9^th December.

Chris R *Images are taken from Andrew Cushin’s social media pages