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Feature: Jack Foley
"I WAS still a teenager when we got our record deal with
Rough Trade, so I was really living a double life," recalls
Adam Green recalls.
"On the one hand, I was touring the world and making albums,
but on the other, my parents didn't really have any idea what
I was doing.
"I come from a family where everyone has degrees: my dad's
a professor of neurology at Columbia University, my mom's a psychiatrist
who works at the Museum of Natural History, and my brother's an
astrophysicist.
"I'm absolutely the first person in my family to not go
to college. To them, it was absurd that I had to do this other
thing."
His obsession with this 'other thing' has arguably given the
world one of today’s most acclaimed and argued-about young
artists.
With a style that steps closer to the likes of Bacharach and
Jacques Brel with each release, Green has created Gemstones,
his third solo record, combining his singular songwriting vision
and plaintive, almost-angelic tenor with elegant melodies and
playful art-pop arrangements.
Gemstones is billed as an album whose songs transcend
indie rock in favor of more enduring virtues, and it offers 15
prime examples of Green’s sculpted-yet-irreverent songcraft
that has won him a sizable and ever-increasing audience in the
US, Canada, Europe and Japan, where he's toured with the likes
of The Libertines, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Kweller and The Strokes.
Julian Casablancas, of The Strokes, was one of the first to notice
Green’s talents.
He says of Green: "It always amazes me how he can express
such deep meaning with such twisted humour. Adam is eccentric
and down-to-earth, with newfound technical proficiency over a
wider spectrum of styles. I love it."
And the accolades keep coming. Rolling Stone praised his 'pure
genius', Mojo referred to him as an 'unexpectedly rich talent'
and Elle Girl called him 'wicked awesome'.
Gemstones therefore looks set to continue the creative
evolution that began with Green's work as the male half of the
much-loved duo, the Moldy Peaches, and confirms the 23-year-old
troubadour's status as both an artful wise guy and an earnest
dreamer.
The album showcases his unmistakable romantic sensibility as
well as his barbed sense of humour: from the Doorsy, cinematic
pop of Gemstones and Over The Sunrise to the
Brylcreem swoon of forthcoming single, Emily.
Gemstones follows 2003's orchestrated Friends of
Mine and Adam's stripped-down, home-recorded 2002 solo debut,
Garfield.
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The former release marked his first
recording in a professional studio, augmenting his plaintive,
sexy croon with sophisticated string arrangements that enhanced
his increasingly accomplished songwriting.
Friends of Mine also spawned a surprise hit in Jessica,
a pointed yet poignant jab at showbiz superficiality — in
the person of ubiquitous pop icon Jessica Simpson. The video received
substantial MTV airplay.
Gemstones combines Green's surreal lyrics with a punchy,
rock-oriented sound that reflects the input of his four-man band,
which toured with him behind Friends of Mine and joined
him in the studio to record the new album.
"This record's more melodic and more rhythmically complex
than the last one, and there's more twists and turns and surprises
inside of the songs," says Green.
"It's also more of a physical record. I think that comes
from touring consistently with the same guys, and feeling like
they can play the songs the way that I hear them in my head."
"These songs," he adds, "are all road-tested,
and I've been playing them on tour for the past year.
"The standard thing is that you're not supposed to play
the songs live until the record's already out. But it's exciting
to keep adding my new songs to the set, and I think it makes for
better records."
Adam Green was 14 when he and partner, Kimya Dawson, joined forces
to form the Moldy Peaches, whose albums incorporated a resourceful
mix of youthful sweetness, potty-mouthed surrealism and perfect
pop craftsmanship.
By the time the duo went on indefinite hiatus in 2001, they'd
captivated critics and won fans around the world, while propelling
New York's 'anti-folk' scene to international prominence.
As a solo artist, Green has quickly evolved from the Moldy Peaches'
spontaneity to a more instinctive, crafted approach.
"Moldy Peaches was about going from idea to execution in
five minutes. We'd think of something, we'd write the song, we'd
record it, and it was out. We only recorded at home because we
didn't have any way to record in a studio," explains Green.
Ironically, Green's fevered compositional imagination was liberated
by adversity.
"I injured my hand a few years ago, so I stopped writing
on guitar," he explains. "Now I've got this little digital
recorder that I walk around with, and when I get an idea I'll
just sing into it.
"That really opened me up, because I used to be limited
by what I could play on guitar, but now I just make up the songs
however I want and figure out the chords later. I feel like I
developed my songwriting muscles that way."
It's the measure of the unpredictable appeal of Green's songs
that he's won the affection of kindred spirits from across the
social spectrum.
"It really seems like the more my music gets out, the more
mixed the audience becomes," he says.
"All over the world, my audiences range from 11-year-olds
to 60-year-olds. It's such a mixed bag, I feel like I'm Pete Seeger
or something."
Gemstones is released by Rough Trade on January 24,
2005
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