André Costello and the Cool Minors w Locks andDams

André Costello and the Cool Minors with Locks and Dams and Aaron Shaffer (of Round Black Ghosts)

Tickets are $10 in advance $15 at the door. Doors open at 8PM show starts at 9PM

André Costello's musical journey was jump-started in part by a college-age breakup — not a horribly unique story. But it was helped along by the Law of Increased Entropy; in that, perhaps he's a bit more novel.

"We had broken up, and there was that — she was this perfection, then that was gone," the 24-year-old songwriter recalls. "And I was in college, and all of my classes were telling me that the world was messed up. Economics said that the economy was messed up. In chemistry, we learned about the Second Law of Thermodynamics: that everything tends toward entropy. And that catapulted me into a real depression.

Fortunately, Costello — an Ellwood City native who lives in Brookline — says he learned to "find a beauty in the terrible." And after a stint in the band The Slant, Costello prepared his solo debut André Costello and the Cool Minors. 

The CD, replete with hand-screened artwork (Costello is trained as a graphic designer), was issued last month by Wild Kindness Records, a small indie from Youngstown, Ohio.

On his debut, Costello provides all the sounds. (As cataloged in the liner notes, they range from "Voice" to "Dying Electronic Novelty Keychain.") It's a collection of understated, beautiful tunes with an Americana backbone and warm vocals reminiscent of Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold. The lyrics are relatable but borderline surreal, and recall the terrible beauty he professes to see. ("Fields of horses / converted into glue / Untold forces / are watching what you do," begins "Equestrian Dreams.") It's got the hallmarks of a solo-project recording: buzzing electronics here, lots of auxiliary percussion, unconventional interaction between acoustic and synthetic sounds. 

Costello is now playing live shows with a trio — they open for Atlas Sound this Sat., Jan. 21, at Penn State — and he plans a more conventional set-up on the follow-up album. 

But his take on music-making is still anything but conventional. "My girlfriend once said I'm like a sculptor," Costello says. "All of the sound waves are already there — making music is just a matter of taking them and shaping them." Call it the Law of Conservation of Music.

(Andy Mulkerin - Pittsburgh City Paper)

In late 2011, André started assembling "The Cool Minors" - a backing band named after his solo debut. He had roommates, Cynthia Thomas and Michael Perrota fill in on drums and bass respectively. Sometimes David Pokrivnak, founder of Wild Kindness Records, would fill in on drums. During this time many songs were written and performed live.

In late 2012, after the original Cool Minors lineup dissolved, André called upon craigslist housing inquiry acquaintance, and Princeton NJ native, Matthew Fiorillo to play bass and vocals. Soon after that, a colleague of André's at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh recommended her boyfriend, Nicholas Charters. 

This lineup (of Matt, Nick, and André) debuted the "Summer's Best" EP and performed the "André Costello and the Cool Minors" LP in its entirety for two nights on two sides of town (Pittsburgh). The events were well-attended and shed light on the future of the group in a retrospective way.

In 2013, the band teamed up with Samuel Price, an underground, secretive and mysterious filmmaker, to film what they called a "Visual EP" which was a video component to span the 3 song EP of "Summer's Best." The video was premiered in March of 2014 to a sold out crowd at Blackbird Studios in Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh. - The video is slated to be released July 4th with a re-release of Summer's Best - along side an 7" EP of 2 brand new songs as a preview of what's to come.

Since this lineup has come to be, the band has been further developing songs written and performed during the time of the original line up as well as putting together a plethora of new songs to be released, performed, and celebrated at The Warhol Museum this October 3rd, 2014. This performance will feature live projections, lights, and a full band appearance, playing all songs from the new release, as well as dipping backwards into Costello's solo discography.