Andy Shauf's seventh album transforms social discomfort into exquisite miniatures, tracking the titular Norm through parties and interactions where internal monologue drowns out conversation. Recording alone in his Toronto home studio, Shauf arranges woodwinds and strings around his neurotic observations with the precision of a Short Cuts-era Altman.

The songs capture that universal gap between facade and inner turmoil, where making eye contact feels like competitive sport. His melodic craft renders awkwardness not as quirk but as genuine emotional architecture, proving mundane anxiety deserves the same narrative attention as grand romantic gestures.