Black Sands

Black Sands is the musical project of LA-based songwriter and producer Andrew Balfour, a veteran creative whose work exists in contrast — a collision of cinematic beauty and emotional honesty, of darkness and light. For the past five years, Black Sands built a reputation on immersive, genre-bending soundscapes that drew comparisons to alt-pop auteurs like The Weeknd, The 1975 and Post Malone. But with his newest work, Balfour turns the volume down — and the vulnerability up. The new chapter of Black Sands trades experimental synth pop maximalism for stripped-back songwriting rooted in Americana, pop-country, and acoustic storytelling. It’s not a reinvention. It’s a homecoming.

While the new sound leans into the textures of country-pop, folk and pop rock, Black Sands remains unmistakably modern — cinematic in spirit, emotionally layered, and lyrically intimate. Think guitar-forward storytelling filtered through the lens of someone who’s lived through contrast: former touring guitarist, global creative leader, brother and wanderer. With over 4 million streams, 8 million social media views, 16,000 Shazams, press in outlets like Wonderland, Rolling Stone India, and Atwood Magazine, sync placements with JetBlue, UFC, and the London Olympics, and recent nominations at the Hollywood Independent Music Awards, Black Sands is no stranger to acclaim. But this chapter is different. It’s quieter. Truer. More human.