The Adobe Collective
All The Space That There Is
Love/Sands Records
Buy Here | Listen Below
Everyone is now readily and fluently able to speak to brands. It seems like even elderly seamstresses without mobile devices or internet access somehow have documents outlining their voice-of-business nowadays. It can seem silly, but the marketing concept makes sense as it allows something to be defined concisely, using a short-hand. But it often also takes nuance and variation off of the table.
The Adobe Collective's All The Space That There Is doesn't have an easy tagline to describe their sound. They’re an amazing blend of folk, country, and synth-pop and All The Space feels like a ride along an airport monorail, taking you to wildly different places that all exist within a single world, but always returning you to where you started.
From a branding perspective, it's a risky gambit. But from an artistic one, it's the right move.
Synth and Americana, at first glance, can feel like opposing genres. One is rooted in a technical sheen while the other is built upon traditional acoustic sounds. But what husband and wife Tim and Faith Chinnock, the band’s founders, understand is that while the underlying instrumentation of both genres is different, you can mix and match the sounds and melodies of the two to create something new.
"Carousel," the album's first track, shows how sophisticated the combinations can get. It's built on a straightforward rhythm that Johnny Cash probably used constantly, albeit much more sped-up. The drums beneath the loping groove have a mechanical precision and layers of instruments criss-cross the track creating lovely crochets of sound that can be tough to identify, so tight is the sonic weave. The Chinnocks duet over it with an indie ambivalence but the melodies are sweet, with Faith's backing vocables giving the song a gentle ‘50s feel. The result is something that captures the relaxing bob of a carousel, but also the human warmth of enjoying the ride.
The arc of the album is impressive. While "Carousel" represents the self-contained union of synth and traditional, tracks roll out with different foci. "Warm to Me," with its pedal steel, organ, and the Chinnocks' charmingly unadorned vocals, is a duet that could have been recorded 70 years ago. There are hints at the modern, mostly in their vocal tones, which have just a touch of breathiness, but this is an otherwise classic and enjoyable track.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have "Sky Starts At The Ground," built upon a rhythm guitar strum right out of a Strokes song (which, I'm morally obligated to mention, came right out of a Velvet Underground one). The chorus features loud electric guitar, perhaps the most rock-sounding guitar of the album. But what's special is how The Adobe Collective flips the proportion here, this time infusing the vocals with a country sweetness, without defaulting to an ill-conceived Southern accent.
And so the album unfurls, some tunes synth-Americana, some modern rock tracks nodding to more traditional sounds, and some throwback tunes with a tiny, perfect glow of modernity. The ratios change but the constant is strong songs driven by thoughtful performances. The Adobe Collective's brand might not be electronic music, or Americana, so much as it’s the ability to brilliantly deploy the two together.
Notable Tracks: “Carousel” | “Sky Starts At The Ground” | “Warm to Me”
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