Philadelphia-based musician Andrew Lipke will be playing live dates throughout the mid Atlantic region, showcasing material from his debut solo album The Way Home… which was released earlier this year through Drexel University’s student-run record label, MAD Dragon Records (Ryko/Warner Distribution). Produced by Emmy Award-winning composer and Drexel Professor Jim Klein, The Way Home… features Lipke’s melodically-focused compositions and powerfully emotional lyrics that bridge the gap between singer-songwriter and alternative rocker. I'm hoping you'd consider advancing this show with a feature, CD review or advance blurb.

Written and arranged by Lipke, The Way Home… tastefully balances the love and pain inherent in all human relationships delving into intimate acoustic ballads, all out rockers and sweeping string arrangements. The album’s first track and forthcoming single “Untitled Song #1,” features an intense basic primal voice throughout the wordless chorus that builds to a heightened crescendo. “Check Your Mirror” is a melodic counterpart displaying irresistible melodies mixed with jangle guitar sweetness and understated strings that draw the listener further into his world. Lipke examines failed romance in the inspired rock anthem “The Fire” while an acoustic ballad “My One and Only,” emotes a definitive connection to his lyrics. Lipke says, “My songs are essentially a reaction to what’s going on around and inside me.” He sings about undying commitment in the darkly playful “Stick by You” and the string arrangements swell to a fevered pitch on the epic seven minute opus, “Standing Over You”. The Way Home’s… closing track “It’s Gone Out” draws from Lipke’s classical piano influence, completing the whole of all parts examined throughout the record. To date the album has drawn some high critical praise:

Andrew Lipke's The Way Home… is diverse and ordinary singer/songwriter fare, tapping into several modern rock styles. There are standard whisper-to-a-roar anthemic material à la the opener, "Untitled Song #1"; more introspective compositions that give him a chance to display his wide vocal range and earnest tone, sometimes using subtle string arrangements; good-natured midtempo rock with a guitar jangle, like "Check Your Mirror"; a breezy happy-go-lucky number, "Stick by You"; and an acoustic ballad, "My One and Only," emphasizing the impressively high upper register of his voice. The final cut, "It's Gone Out," is a sad piano ballad with shades of classical grandeur à la Eric Carmen that's unlike anything else on the record, and a standout for that reason. Richie Unterberger/AllMusic.com

Local light Andrew Lipke shows us a split personality on "The Way Home" (Mad Dragon, B). Early on, he lets loose with swoony, flamboyant vocals and equally lush melodies in the Rufus Wainwright/Jeff Buckley vein, with intense songs about sitting out the rain on Green Street or hanging tough with his love until she grows old and dies.

Then, halfway through, Lipke lightens his load and ours with more intimately sung and finger-picked tunes like my fave, "Stick By You." … Jon Takiff/Philadelphia Daily News 2/20/07

Lipke started playing the piano at age of five while living in South Africa. After moving to America in 1987, he began writing songs on the guitar. Lipke’s musical endeavors, such as high school bands, during his teenage years fostered his passion for performing. “Performing for me is a chance to bring people into my world for a little while… it’s really a very sensual exchange of energy when the situation is right” states Lipke. After high school he moved to Philadelphia to earn a degree in Music Composition from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. During his college years, Andrew formed the band Metagroove, later known as Revisor, and over the next five years garnered regional and national acclaim for his gifts as a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with the group. Metagroove disbanded when Andrew opted to follow a burgeoning desire to create a more intimate vehicle for his music.

Influenced by everything from Bach, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin to modern-day musical pioneers like Radiohead and The Shins, Lipke wrote, arranged and produced his independent solo debut, Ghosts, in 2004. Stripping down his sound gave immediate focus to the range and power of his voice and brought an added clarity to subtle and inspired lyrics.

“I love music like I love light and air and other things I can’t live without. I remember hearing music in the car when I was five or six and being completely and totally transported to another dimension. I never get tired of trying to figure out the mystery of why music has so much power and the thrill of first hearing something in your head and later having the same sound come in through your ears is astounding, absolutely incredible… it never gets old.” Andrew’s affinity for music is heard and felt throughout every note and lyric in The Way Home…, and will be voiced in all of Lipke’s musical exploits for years to come.