November 15, 2004

{ Adem - Homesongs }

I was tinkering around in the garage the other day, and I accidentally zapped myself with this shrink-ray I'd been working on. I know, it was really stupid of me not to put the safety on, but what are you gonna do? I decided to make the best of it... I climbed through a knothole in the baseboard, and found myself standing in the space between walls, made cavernous by my tiny size. My eyes soon adjusted to the soft orange glow of the light leaking through cracks in the wall above, and I realized rather suddenly that I wasn't alone. Several hundred bugs and spiders were politely milling about amongst a number of low-slung tables constructed of wood scrap and mud. A burly centipede wearing a bowler hat stood behind a bar that ran the length of the space, serving up tiny mugs of dewy brew with a hundred busy arms. A fat and obviously drunken spider adjusted his bowtie before sauntering over to a table full of pretty young earwigs, stumbling upon his own feet in the process and spilling most of his mug of ale. I watched as a stately grasshopper chuckled at the spider's misfortune, and stepped back into a shadow before any of them had noticed me. Slugs schmoozed with beetles, mosquitos mingled with grubworms and a randy cockroach felt up a giggling silverfish. I watched in awe as the insects cavorted and drank themselves silly, until at last a hush fell over the crowd. A curtain of spidersilk was drawn to reveal a group of handsome crickets perched atop a stage made of matchboxes at the far end of the chamber. They all clutched miniature instruments, and the tall one with the soulful eyes sat down at a stool in the stage's center, holding a small acoustic guitar in his hands. He cleared his throat and strummed a few chords, then began to play. The other cricket musicians fell in behind him. The songs that emerged were equally bleak and bright, and for every dark cloud that was conjured by the somewhat dirgey crooning, a brilliant silver lining was also revealed. It all sounded so personal and intimate, I sometimes felt as though the lead cricket were singing only to me, that perhaps he could see me in the shadows and that he knew of my shrunken plight- but a glance around the makeshift Bug Bar let me know that the sentiment he extolled was near-universal. A sea of rapt wet eyes met every new tune, and I even caught the gruff centipede bartender wiping away a stray tear with the corner of a spotty dishrag as soft notes trickled down from the stage. The sound of mini-banjos, flutes and mandolins joined the sound of mini-guitars, auto-harps and tiny organs, as wee drums and xylophones kept the beat. They played with the deliberate pacing of a folkish orchestra; each layer of instrumentation adding to the next, never so loud as to overpower or make indistinguishable the melody before it or the one rising beneath it. The room was soon swirling in a hook-laden acoustic symphony, crackling with toe-tapping energy as heart-strings and guitar strings were simultaneously plucked. The lead cricket sang in a lilting rasp, every throaty whisper and hum held firmly to the center of his song, becoming the heart of every tune. It was some of the most unlikely and beautiful music I'd ever heard, and I struggle now to find a way to explain it's effect upon me. Sadly, as the band was finishing their set, I felt the effects of the shrink-ray wearing off. I struggled quickly through the knothole and back out into the garage, growing exponentially larger and reaching my full heighth in a matter of moments. I realized as I grew how little we hear, because we're just too big to bother listening.... See Adem live with Badly Drawn Boy, currently on tour throughout the US and Canada- 11/15/04 - Knoxville, TN @ Blue Cats 11/17/04 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 11/18/04 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA 11/20/04 - New York, NY @ Town Hall 11/23/04 - Portland, ME @ Big Easy 11/24/04 - Montreal, PQ @ Club Soda 11/26/04 - Toronto, ON @ Phoenix 11/27/04 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall 11/29/04 - Columbus, OH @ Newport 11/30/04 - Louisville, KY @ Headliner's

» Domino Records
» Adem Official Website

By Adam in Music | Comments:

Comments

None of that is true. Adam is a liar.

Posted by: Aaron Zimmerman at November 16, 2004 4:34 AM

It's true. I lie.

Aaron, however, compulsively tells the truth.
Even when you specifically ask him not to.
Or rather, specifically WHEN you ask him not to.

The words "secret" and "lie" are not in his vocabulary, but oddly enough "extraneous hyperbole" is.

Posted by: Adam at November 17, 2004 6:14 PM

What a wonderful experience. I think I accidently stepped on the centipede bartender while I was over at you house last night. He must of been drunk off the ale because he just didn't move fast enough.

Posted by: T Lai at November 18, 2004 4:33 PM