Basingstoke songwriter releases debut album Say It Anyway

Andi Schipelbaum, born and bred in Winklebury, released Say It Anyway internationally on August 6, as the first album from The Andi Michaels Project (AMP).

The 12-track record includes the debut single Maybe, alongside songs including Not a Valentine, What If I’m the One, Quiet in Your Corner, and Shattered Picture. The album is listed as having a running time of around 48 minutes.

But the Andi Michaels Project is not a traditional band with one fixed line-up. Instead, it is a collaborative musical home for Mr Schipelbaum’s songs, bringing together different musicians, singers and friends depending on what each track requires.

Andi Schipelbaum has released Say It Anyway (Image: Andi Schipelbaum)

He said the project grew from songs that did not naturally fit the sound or identity of his other musical work.

Mr Schipelbaum has spent more than a decade performing with the cover band So Close, while also writing heavier original rock material with Breachpoint. AMP developed from another side of his songwriting, drawing on acoustic rock, country-folk, blues and melodic pop-rock.

“Rather than form another traditional band and force every song through the same fixed line-up, I wanted the songs themselves to come first,” he said.

That approach inspired the project’s guiding phrase: “Same heart, different voice.”

Andi said Say It Anyway was written during a period of “considerable personal upheaval and rebuilding”, as he processed changes in his relationships, family life and his own sense of belonging.

“There wasn’t one single dramatic event behind the album,” he said. “It grew from trying to process changes in relationships, family life and my own sense of where I belonged.”

Although the songs are not intended to be a literal diary, Andi said the emotions behind them are honest. He believes the album’s identity emerged when he realised he "had written an album’s worth of things that I wasn’t always able to say directly in ordinary life."

The album’s serious themes are balanced with humour, with Mr Schipelbaum saying he wanted to avoid the record becoming “unbearably earnest”.

Looking ahead, he hopes AMP will continue to grow naturally, with more musicians and creative people joining the project. He also wants to develop visual content around the music and is already working on material for a second record.

Andi's album cover (Image: Andi Schipelbaum)

Live performances are another ambition, although Andi said the challenge will be finding a format that preserves AMP’s collaborative identity rather than turning it into a conventional band.

“I would love more people to discover the songs and recognise something of their own lives in them,” he said.

Listeners can find Say It Anyway on streaming platforms, while The Andi Michaels Project can be followed on Instagram at @theandimichaelsproject.