Tom Adams + Alev Lenz
Combining enveloping minimalism with a spellbinding falsetto, Berlin-based songwriter/composer Tom Adams conveys immense emotion utilizing just a few elements. Masterfully balancing tactile acoustic and electronic instruments, Adams’ music is as expansive as it is elegantly peculiar – evoking cinematic odes to nature’s majesty and the divergent depths of the human condition. Receiving accolades for his wide-ranging output of synth-guided exploits, chamber pop, melancholic piano-ambient works, and moody film scores, Tom Adams veers into the cerebral and introspective on his debut EP for London’s Kowloon Records.
Recorded as live takes in a single afternoon, Adams’ neo-classical approach to nuance captures a compelling grace that’s increasingly rare. Bookended by the idyllic ambience of “Voyages By Starlight” and “The Last Farewell”, the heart of the EP is a trio of stargazing ballads. The yearning keys and raw intimacy of “Seven Birds” and “Fade” hypnotize as much as they pull your heartstrings, while the expansive “Stellar” explores a wider sonic palette weaving together delicate piano with arpeggiated cosmic synth pulse. Using the studio as instrument (aided by custom-made Max MSP software), Adams’ exploratory production techniques leave his signature mark on this collection of shimmering electro-acoustic arrangements that echo the ghost of Jeff Buckley circling the musical orbits of modern innovators like Jon Hopkins or Kiasmos.
Quickly gaining a reputation for his striking live performances, Tom Adams has recently opened for A Winged Victory For the Sullen, Perfume Genius, Moonface, among many others. He was recently commissioned to remix Max Richter’s ‘Berlin By Overnight’, released by Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to self-releasing his acclaimed 2015 EP ‘The Constant Noise’, Adams also composed the OST for the Universal Pictures feature film ‘The Knife That Killed Me’.
With support from Alev Lenz.