6 January 2009- Welcome 2009 and bless you, you new year. Ought-eight was a sack of shit and I'm quite happy to leave its withered bulk behind. And though I spit and scoff at the fetid waste of these past twelve months, I am happy to pluck from it one arty-fact that brings me great joy in this wonderful Rotten Pear.

Like good old-fashioned Canadian handicraft---handmade, heartfelt and even naive---Andrew Vincent's songs are pure heart-on-sleeve nuggets that always manage to nestle their way into the cozy corners of our minds. His knack for churning out memorable melodies and turns of phrase never ceases to amaze, and here on his fifth album Rotten Pear, AV offers up some of his most painfully honest slices of song to date.

Rotten Pear was recorded in Vincent's new home in Toronto with Jarrett Bartlett (The Acorn, Jim Bryson). The Pirates (Bryan Curry and Scott Terry, featured on 2003's I Love the Modern Way) have been shored here; all three now live in different cities. The result is reminiscent of the old Andrew Vincent sound: stripped down with a lightly-strummed acoustic and his fragile voice upfront, but the light-hearted approach of old AV has been checked at the door. Rotten Pear is thematically his heaviest record to date, packing an emotional wallop only hinted at on previous efforts. Loss and loneliness step out under the spotlight, and though they can be an eyesore, their sound in these songs ring true.

Troubled characters flank Rotten Pear at every corner: the failed Romeo in "Fooled Again," the beaten punk in "Ruffian," the drug-addled subject of "Hi Lo." Vincent has a penchant for painting portraits of the fringe personalities we encounter daily, weekly and monthly, but empowering them with tales that make us sit up, pay attention, and hope things turn around for them (though they could all be fictional for all we know). It's Vincent's greatest gift, and the reason that his decade of output has attracted a devoted listenership that continues to grow.

Andrew Vincent now lives in Toronto, hard at work on a PhD in Communication and Culture at York. Keep up to the minute on AV happenings by visiting his MySpace page!

REVIEWS

Praise for I Love the Modern Way

****- Andrew Vincent's natural talent for taking awkward thinking and turning it into perfect words is centre stage here. - Dylan Young - Hour.ca

"...he ropes audiences in with super-structured lyrics riding on wit, wordplay, pop-cultural allusions and Ottawa in-jokes." - Joshua Ostroff - Eye

Read the Splendid review of A Short Trip...
Read the Mote review of A Short Trip...
Read the Toronto Eye review of To Thine