Louisville Music Artist Andi Zyland Releases Debut Single
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An aspiring singer-songwriter works with music heroes to release a new hit single. It sounds like the start of a dream. For Andi Zyland, it has been.
Zyland released “New Static,” an infectious modern pop dance track, late last year. The new project is a departure from Zyland’s previous sound, and she even changed her name.
Formerly billed as Andi Ramser, part of Mad Luck, an upbeat pop rock band with Sean Ewing, she retooled herself as a solo singer – Andi Zyland.
In the fall of 2019, when Zyland, a native of Georgetown, Indiana, saw an online contest offering a free production package with the Moxy Brothers, a music production company started by Adrian Young of No Doubt and Todd Forman, formerly of Sublime, she jumped at the chance to work with the two music industry megastars.
When she didn’t win, Zyland says she was disappointed at first, but the production duo of Young and Forman heard potential in her unique vocal style.
“The contest allowed me to make that connection,” she explains. “When the world started opening back up, I reached out again. The timing was just right.”
She spent a week in Long Beach, California, last summer working with Young and Forman at Young’s home studio known as the Ruby Red Room.
Zyland describes it as “a dream come true” and says No Doubt was a huge influence that inspired her to become a singer in the first place. Adrian Young is the drummer for the rock band, with lead vocals by Gwen Stefani.
Zyland has been a singer and songwriter for about 15 years. In that time she’s been in several bands and acoustic acts. Her original band, Mad Luck, was playing shows and gearing up for a second album release until COVID-19 hit and stopped everyone in their tracks in early 2020.
Then, when her writing partner got an opportunity to join a touring band, Zyland says she knew she needed to find a way to continue her passion for creating music. She took the time to focus on her plan and figure out her next steps.
“I had to make my own path and decide what direction to go,” she says. “I wanted to venture outside of my comfort zone. I’m so influenced by the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
She adds that she didn’t want to leave her roots completely, but rather experiment with a different sound.
“When you’re an independent artist and you’re not expected to make a certain type of music, it gives you freedom to experiment,” she says. “When I think about what I love – Beck, Blondie, No Doubt, Garbage, The Police – I pull from so many different influences. Then add the creativity and experience Adrian and Todd brought to the table, and the song took on a personality of its own.”
“New Static” reflects on her time of change and looking inward. Zyland says she really leaned into the uncomfortable and allowed herself to be vulnerable.
The track has an upbeat chorus and an infectious melody, but writing it was no easy feat.
“At the end of our first phone conversation they joked, ‘Now all you have to do is write a really good song,’” Zyland recalls. “I said, ‘Oh yeah, no pressure!’”
Zyland did what she always does when she writes – she pulled inspiration from personal experience.
“I lied down on my living room floor with a pen and my journals and told myself, ‘You are going to do this,’” she says.
That determination is what fueled her through the doubt she felt. She says she wove her hesitation and willingness to fight through it in the lyrics.
“It’s about feeling like an imposter, but the opportunity knocks so I took it,” she says. “Then fighting through all the discomfort, pain and all the self-doubt because it was something I wanted so badly. I could feel it in my veins. I knew I had to give it my all to see where it would go.”
The opening lines of the song echo that sense of determination:
Oh, an imposter
Doors open now I’m in
No invitation
Run it back again
Resistance, necessary pain
Outsider to an inside game
New static in my veins
After collaborating virtually with Young and Forman throughout the summer, she spent a week in August in Long Beach with the Moxy Brothers team tracking and mixing the instruments and vocals.
Zyland says it was the “coolest experience of my life.”
“It was so much fun hanging out with them,” she adds. “There was good camaraderie with the three of us and they made me feel at ease. We spent every day in the studio and I felt at home in that space.”
Zyland sang the lead vocals, Young played drums and guitar, and Forman played keyboard, synth bass, and horns. Young’s son Mason also played guitar on the song.
With the release of the single and video of “New Static,” Zyland plans to focus in the upcoming months on writing new material.
“The challenging question now is, what’s next?” she says. “I only have one song. My goal is to take my time writing. The next song I’m working on now, I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
Her goal in the next year is to put out an EP – an extended-play album.
“I want to have a good set of songs to represent what this project is really about,” she explains.
These days Zyland is listening to a mixture of rock, pop, alternative and favorites from the 1980s, including St. Vincent, HalfNoise, Gorillaz, Metric, Talking Heads and David Bowie.
Zyland plans on traveling back to California this summer to record another single with the Moxy Brothers.
Stay up to date with Zyland on her social media channels @AndiZyland and listen to “New Static” on all streaming services. The “New Static” video can be viewed on YouTube.
