While singer-songwriter Andy Shauf spent the better part of six years plugging away in his native Canada as he delighted audiences with his emotionally raw and musical rich take on modern indie pop, it took until very recently for the rest of the world to take notice.

 He was aided, in part, by the re-release of his debut album The Bearer of Bad News in 2015, and through his relentless touring, which took him to Reykjavik for the Iceland Airwaves Festival and to Rhode Island for the famed Newport Folk Festival. All of that set the table for his highest-profile release to date. His new album, The Party (out today (May 20) via Anti- Records), is an ornate and precisely rendered collection of songs all set during one evening at a party. The record deftly balances a gentle ‘70s pop aesthetic a la Harry Nilsson and Gerry Rafferty, and the hazy melancholy born of Shauf’s lifelong love of Elliott Smith. To get yourself acquainted with the work of this singular artist, here are 10 things you need to know about Andy Shauf.

Andy Shauf Hails From Regina, Saskatchewan

Regina lies just north of the US/Canada border that separates Montana from Saskatchewan, and it’s where Shauf first fell in with a likeminded gaggle of musicians and artists including his friends in the bands Library Voices and Rah Rah.

Shauf Recorded His First Album Before His Last Year of High School

While he got his start playing drums in punk bands, Shauf fell in love with artists like Elliott Smith and Randy Newman, turning his musical attention to softer, folkier pop.

He Wrote 100 Songs For His First Album, ‘The Bearer of Bad News’

Shauf eventually pared this down to the 11 songs that wound up on his 2012 release (released here in the US last year via Portland, OR indie labels Party Damage Records and Tender Loving Empire). “I do quite a lot of song, lyric, and arrangement scrapping,” he says. “I love scrapping songs. Just deciding that you don’t like a song anymore is such a freeing feeling.”

Shauf Started Recording His New Album, ‘The Party,’ in Germany

His first attempt at making the record happened while on a lengthy European tour, but he abandoned the sessions after his meticulous songwriting and arranging kept halting their progress. He eventually made the record on his own back home in Regina.

Shauf Played Almost Every Note on ‘The Party’

Outside of the string parts, which were performed by his friend Colin Nealis, Shauf plays all the other instruments heard on the album. It’s a laborious endeavor, but a worthwhile one. “It’s such a long process finishing a song,” he says, “and with so much trial-and-error with arrangement.”

‘The Party’ is Not a Concept Album

Although it all takes place at a house party and different characters appear throughout the album, Shauf insists that this isn’t a concept album a la Tommy or The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society. “I wanted it to have the feel of different things happening in different rooms at a party,” he says. “It’s a pretty loose concept. Some songs tie together more strongly than others.”

‘The Party’ is Also Not Autobiographical

Despite the rich lyrical detail that he brings to every song on it, Shauf insists that the stories within the album are fictional. “I can’t point to each song and say, ‘This one is based on this night,’” he says. “But the characters have to be filtered through my perspective, so I end up on there a lot.”

He Hasn’t Heard Joy Division’s “Transmission”

In spite of the lyric in “Martha Sways,” a beautiful sentiment found on The Party, that goes “dance, dance to the radio,” Shauf insists that it wasn’t a reference to the post-punk classic. “I still haven’t heard that song,” he claims. “Or I don’t think I have. Maybe it was one of those subliminal things.”

Shauf Has No Interest in Working With a Producer on His Music

It may make him sound like a control freak, but Shauf doesn’t trust putting his music into anyone else’s hands. Or as he puts it: “It has my name on it, so I’d like to be the one to decide what it sounds like.”

Shauf Will Be On Tour For The Rest of 2016

After he finishes up a European tour next month, he and his four-piece backing band will hit the road opening up for Case/Lang/Veirs throughout North America.