Adem
I’m reposting this review I did for Time Off a few months ago because I put this album on (again) this morning and was still months later amazed at how good it is. As I said below, it’s the best album of covers I’ve ever heard. How someone takes Aphex Twin, turns him into a folk song and makes it sound amazing is really beyond me! The song selection is great, the subtle instrumentation is great. It’s simply one of my favorite albums of the year. Please go check it out!
Adem -> Official Website
ADEM
Takes (Domino/EMI)
Indie kids take note: This is most likely the best covers album of underground hits ever made!
Adem is Adem Ilhan, one-third of the luscious post rock outfit Fridge (with Kieran Hedden of Fourtet). Here, however, he has taken it upon himself for his third solo album to reinvent 12 songs from the decade 1991-2001, some slightly more obscure than others and woven together a whole so much greater than its various parts.
As with his other pursuits, there is again that luscious feel but it’s the understated delivery is the greatest strength of Adem. His voice swells with the emotions that fuel these songs, while the instrumentation is a simple as an accordion in Lisa Germano’s ‘Slide’ or acoustic guitar in PJ Harvey’s ‘Oh My Lover’ and Aphex Twin’s ‘To Cure A Weakling Child’. More often than not, it’s just Ilham’s voice and his steel string acoustic and where there are other accompaniments, percussion or strings, it’s all performed by Ilham himself. There are some songs here that you could argue are even better than their originals: with songs such as dEUS’s ‘Hotellounge’ or The Smashing Pumpkins ‘Starla’ stripped of their bombast, their melodies and messages blossom with a greater strength and clarity.
And while it seems hard to be able to do justice to Yo La Tengo’s ‘Tears Are In your Eyes’, Björk’s ‘Unravel’ or The Breeders, Tortoise and Low, the fact is that there is not one song here that is a dud or an idea not exquisitely executed. You won’t find any forced refrains, you won’t find any wild-eyed interpretations, just a fellow who has reached down into the hearts of these songs and delivered to us what it is that makes them so beautiful and emotionally powerful – no mean feat for anyone.
HHHH
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