Brooklyn Duo Andy Suzuki & The Method Talks New Album, Touring, & More

Combining elements of classic pop with scintillating deep rhythms of R&B and soul, Brooklyn-based duo Andy Suzuki & The Method are constructing a future-pop sound that belongs in everyone's music library.

With richly diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, lead singer Andy Suzuki—a half-Japanese half-Jewish kid from Washington, D.C.—finds his perfect complement in Kozza Olatunji-Babumba, the Nigerian-Ugandan grandson of Grammy-winning percussionist Babatunde Olatunji. The pair met in 2005 at Brown University and have been inseparable ever since.

Influenced by artists like Haim, Jack Garratt, The 1975, Ben Howard, Drake, and John Mayer, Suzuki and Kozza have been making music together for 10 years now and have opened for acts like Joshua Radin, Tyrone Wells, and Ringo Starr. This past February, the duo dropped their latest studio album The Glass Hour. Produced by Juny Mag, the album is a diverse collection of tracks that explore themes like love over the sweet sounds of pop and warm whispers of R&B enhanced with luxurious golden touches of gospel.

Speaking of gospel, as a favorite from the album, "Shelter" features a powerful gospel choir. Released as a single, it will give the listener goosebumps—in the best way. "Me and Kozza were hanging out, songwriting for the album. I just started singing the gospel choir part, and I think that was around the time that we were listening to the Chance the Rapper album a lot," Suzuki explained. "I demo'd the gospel choir on my computer, singing all of the parts, and it sounded rad. So we just went with the idea and hired a gospel choir. It's one of those things that kinda started more as a joke than a real idea, but we realized it would help the song tons." And the gospel vibe struck such a chord in them that "We ended up using the gospel choir for a few different moments on the album," Andy said, including on the soul-satisfying "I Need You (The More You Leave)."

Prior to kicking off their spring tour throughout the United States in promotion of The Glass Hour, Andy Suzuki & The Method premiered the video for the single "I Can't Live." Directed by Mike Berlin and Elys Muda, the video was filmed at night on the subway in Queens and Brooklyn. "That was one of the most challenging nights of my life," Suzuki recalled. "We knew trying to film a one-take video without a permit on a moving NYC subway car in the middle of the night would be difficult, but we had no idea how many obstacles and challenges we would face. I think the take that we ended up using was take number 17, and we filmed it at around 3am."

Since the release of their folk-pop album Born out of Mischief in 2013, the duo has continued to develop their sound and perfect both their artistry and stage presence. "As far as live shows are concerned, we have a better grasp of what our roles on stage are," Suzuki noted. "We both have strengths and weaknesses, and after making music together for so long, our roles have evolved overtime, to highlight our individual strengths. We have very much been a 'learning by doing' kind of band, and we feel like with 'The Glass Hour', we finally have settled on a sound and vibe that feels the most natural to us."

It is their electrifying live performances that firmly reinforce how unique the duo truly is in today's music scene, and they bring it 110 percent on every stage they hit. "I...love finding the nooks and crannies in new songs that we can explore and change up every night on stage," Suzuki said about performing live. "The album creation process took 2+ years, so it is so great to finally play these songs for our fans and see them singing the words to our brand new album back to us."

Having wrapped up their 10-date promotional tour at the end of March, they were recently invited to play a show at the Apple Store in Brooklyn, NY and just announced a summer show in Cambridge, MA. Get tickets here.

The Glass Hour is available to stream and download now on digital music platforms.

For all of their latest news and updates, follow Andy Suzuki & The Method on social media:

Facebook: facebook.com/andthemethod

Twitter: @andtheMethod

Instagram: @andthemethod

Website: andysuzukimusic.com

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