By Stan Cierlitsky
Even as we Speak release Adelphi this Friday on Shelflife Records. It's the second proper album from the Sydney band, and it comes only a short 27 years after their debut, Feral Pop Frenzy which was released on the brilliant Sarah Records label.
I, like many, was obsessed with Sarah Records. And I, like many, did my best to collect all of their releases. And I, like many, fell pretty far short. Of course there was the impossible to find Sarapoly game, and many of the releases were already super rare and really expensive. I think I paid about $140 for the Another Sunny Day CD, London Weekend. But I did my best to get my hands on any Sarah releases or anything Sarah-related. One of the first Sarah releases I bought sight unseen and unheard was the Even As We Speak "Blue Eyes Deceiving Me" CD-Single. It just blew me away. It was pretty different from what was becoming the "Sarah sound" (more like The Field Mice, Another Sunny Day, The Orchids, Blueboy, etc.). And I knew I needed to hear more from this band. Every song I heard after that was just as different and just as brilliant. "(All You Find Is) Air", to "Beautiful Day", to "One Step Forward". All pop genius!
I don't usually do this, but I wanted to include the band's description of their new album. It's so perfect I didn't want to chop it up or paraphrase it at all:
"Our new album Adelphi sees the band once again define new musical territory and continue its career long mission to defy pop conventions and neat classifications. A dense and cinematic effort, it takes us into the unfashionable terrain of middle age lyric themes, mixing dark electronics, detailed production, and guitars with pop melodies and beautifully crafted songs that revive the art of the album."
Yup, that's it in a nutshell. It sounds just like other indie-pop you listen to, but at the same time it doesn't. Even though this is only their second album, they sound like seasoned pros who have been influencing generations of other bands.
This isn't actually their first new music in 27 years. Back in 2017 they released the five-track EP called The Black Forest. That release was a perfect spoiler for this new album. It told you two things. First is that they haven't changed that much since Feral Pop Frenzy (and that's a good thing). Second, they are still indie-pop pros. "Our People Travelled Many Moons" was my favorite off of The Black Forest and still one of my favorite Even As we Speak songs.
Now on to the main event of this new album.
The first teaser, "Forgiving", came out back in March. A perfect pop song. I'm not usually a big video guy anymore but the video made me so happy to watch. Obviously a bunch of people having a lot of fun, and also people that look like me.
The second teaser "Someone" is a bit more experimental musically than "Forgiving". It's also my favorite song on the album. This is the song that takes me back to 1993. This is the super nostalgic song for me. The manic beats and guitar to open the song then Mary's beautiful voice just emerges. The back-and-forth of beauty and big sounds is what makes this song stand out.
The third teaser, "Unknown", might be the one that grabs fans the most. Just a gorgeous song with great lyrics: "When the end came, I was sleeping, I didn't notice that the world had moved on." Wow.
"Sun" is another favorite of mine. The sound of a rotary phone to start. Then the guitar kicks in. Such a cool sound. Again, this feels so much like Feral Pop Frenzy. "Signs" does a similar trick opening with an old fax machine. I am just a sucker for cool samples and Even As We Speak are masters of that.
I won't comment on every song but I did want to touch on "Blind". I hope I'm getting this right. Matthew starts out singing on this one. God, he sounds like Edwyn Collins to me! "Don't tell me, I do not need reminding, I do not need reminding, reminding of those times. When we fucked up, we fucked up everything we touched, we couldn't have made it more fucked up, if we fucking tried." This might be my favorite lyric of the year so far. Couldn't feel more appropriate sitting here as an American in the middle of this fucking pandemic. By the way, what is the limit on using "fucks" in a review here?
This has gone longer than most of my reviews but this is the first time I have been able to review a Sarah band. Which is a huge deal to me. Anyway, Adelphi is great. No one is going to be able to disagree with me on that one. Nice job folks, and please don't make us wait 27 more years for the next one. Some of us might not be around that long.
Adelphi is out today via Shelflife Records.
More details on Even As We Speak via the official website, or the official Facebook page.
[Photo: Joshua Morris]