André Costello - Rocky Mountain Low (2025) Hi-Res

Pittsburgh-based songwriter André Costello released his first album in 2011, and in the intervening years, has clocked up a significant catalogue of music. Falling into the bracket of indie folk and rock, he has an understated vocal style, half-whispered and half-sung. It provides a gentle, sinuous way of encouraging his music into the subconscious.

“Rocky Mountain Low” (subtle nod to John Denver, there) is Costello’s latest release, and it feels like he has worked hard on a record that encapsulates the best of his vision. The audiophiles among you will be pleased to note it was recorded to tape, and certainly the sound is rich, warm and natural, and also pleasingly uncluttered. Crafted over six years with producer Anthony LaMarca, this is a really good sounding record.

Opener ‘Kickin’ Off Sparks’ is a case in point. Starting with a restrained drum roll, the sound of electric organ ushers in a song with creeping fragility, that blossoms into a catchy and reassuring chorus. It is very much a template for what follows, and this is only a good thing.

The lush organ sound provides the main musical backdrop for the majority of the songs here, and pulls you into a world that is equal parts anxiety and hope. The very titles reflect the mood – ‘Pinin’’, ‘Help Me Out’, Broken Board’, ‘Background Actor’, ‘Can We Hang’. They pull you into a world that is equal parts anxiety and hope. It’s a bit like having a hug from a good friend when things are getting hard. “I’m inclined to take it slow”, he sings in the title track, and that feels like a motif for the music and the sentiments within. It is a record for slow travel, reflection, thoughtfulness.

You could listen to this album through a number of prisms… the falsetto soul of Al Green? The vulnerable ache of Neil Young? The delicate indie pop of the 90’s and early 2000’s? The cool Americana vibe of Laurel Canyon? There are textures and nuances a-plenty, but most importantly, what Costello has done here is to create his own world, one which operates under its own laws, and isn’t definitively drawn from anyone else’s. In the modern day music world, with so many strands that have already passed before, there are few ways of presenting a unique vision, but Costello has achieved that here. This is a record full of hidden treasure, and there will be those out there who will hear its call, and feel heard themselves.