Putting on a CD is like climbing behind the wheel of a car. You are in control. Forward. Reverse. You can stop on a dime. It takes you where you want to be. A cassette tape is more like an inner tube in a lazy river. You can try to control it, but you’re better off drifting along and enjoying the experience without constraint. If you own a waterproof boom box Weaver’s cassette, I am a Flower, would be a great companion. Weaver, who also goes by the name Andrew Joseph Weaver, is a native of upstate New York, and a current resident of Portland, Oregon.

One sticky Sunday in July a modest crowd files into the Dovecote on Hudson Ave. in Albany, languorous from the long sweaty weekend behind them. Weaver sits on an unused practice amp attentively watching the performers preceding him through dark sunglasses. When it is his turn he performs with the composure of a man in his own living room, and all attention is paid. No other sound can be heard. No bottles clinking. No chatter from the sidewalk.

Weaver is able to reproduce this same earnest passion on I am a Flower. Just seconds into the opening track, beautifully placed back-up vocals echo the word ‘prairie,’ and you certain you will not divert your attention until every note has been heard. Weaver is able to create great beauty through conflict. On A Dogfight he pits haunting ethereal vocals and banjo picking against a drum beat likely to be poached for the next Jay-Z record. On the tape’s title track the drums lumber along as if dragging the weight of a thousand lonely nights, while the vocals float above it all with the insouciance of a man just released from prison. As a whole, I am a Flower is unwavering in its charm. From start to finish Weaver’s words float weightlessly over the grit of a trunk full of well loved instruments.

Check out Weaver’s I Am a Flower free to stream at Bandcamp.

Jesse Horton

NYS Dept. of Civil Service

Employee Benefits Division

Leave Without Pay Unit