Adam’s Attic: Skylines and City Lights

I really like mainstream music with great vocals and hard hitting guitar work. I felt I had to say that in order to get you to hear this song and love it the way I do. If you’ve been reading me for more than a couple of months you know I have a certain fascination with American pop/rock music (remember my fawning over Journey?)

So when I received this request to review a new album, I clicked through and heard a familiar but welcome refrain. Adam’s Attic has hit me square between the eyes with the perfect kind of power pop/rock to kick back and fire up the BBQ. Their new album, Skylines and City Lights has a rather long story to it, I’ve included the press release below for you. It’s something that has a huge amount of emotional energy invested into it. And I think that comes out in the tracks, and in a particularly American way. I listen to so much UK music and lately it seems, especially new Scottish stuff, that coming back home to this kind of sound is startling and comfortable all at the same time.

This album is full of really good songs that you know you’re going to sing along to, …no scratch that… sing LOUDLY along to as you drive home from work. Adam’s Attic knows how to write a good chorus. The opening track, “Waiting” is a fantastic song that draws you in, making you want to hear the rest of this group’s effort. It’s full of great guitar work and layers of sound to back up meaningful lyrics. It’s  also a great prelude to track two, the best track of the album… listen to There You Go and let the chorus hit you hard… the lyrics will just kill you if you’ve ever had your heart broken. I’m not skipping over any songs on this six track album, “Bright Eyes” is really good, the phrasing is excellent, the there’s another great chorus and yeah, I’m singing again. “My Apology” is simply put an incredibly catchy pop song without being repetitive. With dramatic flair, “The Silence” is full of great drum rolls and a nice, if understated guitar solo. Finally, “A Night Without Armor” is a very pretty ballad that showcases Joe Henry’s beautifully trained voice. This compact package from Adam’s Attic is built to be your summer soundtrack for 2009, I’m telling you now, xoxo

Find the album on iTunes: (the band’s preferred vendor)

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Los Angeles, CA – Adam’s Attic whole-heartedly lays down their armor to present their most vulnerable release, Skylines and City Lights. While the band originally planned to release the album in early 2008, the founding band members’ mother had cancer and treatment all through 2008, which prevented the release. The band officially released this album in 2009.

With each song, Adam’s Attic captures a snapshot in time, and this record is a time capsule of a personal journey through various “skylines and city lights”.

Since the twist of fate that led Adam’s Attic to relocate to Los Angeles from New Orleans, the band has been on three tours across the globe. The album title, Skylines and City Lights, signifies their privilege of touring domestically and internationally.

Adam’s Attic front man, Joe Henry said, “Every band dreams of touring the world and sharing their music. For us, those dreams are materializing. Following the desire of our hearts has led us to perform domestically from Miami to Los Angeles and internationally in countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greenland, Singapore, and British Indian Ocean Territory. We have gone further than we ever thought, yet we know that are so many more ‘skylines and city lights’.”

When Adam’s Attic hit the studio in the fall of 2007, they were ready. Three years had passed since the release of their last album, In the Blink of an Eye. The group had recorded other songs over the past few years, but nothing was right for release. This time, the five original band members decided to self-produce their collection of songs under the supervision of Joe Henry. Adam’s Attic is Joe Henry, Derek Henry, Scott Boaz, and Frank DeSalvo. To capture his vision for this project, Joe Henry was tasked with the duty of assembling the right team. After interviewing Mike Troolines, the owner of Sound Asylum Studio in Santa Ana, Henry knew he had found the right place to track. After the songs were recorded, Misha Kachkachishvili of Axistudio in New Orleans provided expertise mixing the project. With a strong recommendation from Kachkachishvili, Bruce Barielle was enlisted to master the tracks.

As the songs were being mixed and mastered, creative director, Holli Elaine, cast a vision for the style, image, and presentation the album. With Holli’s countless ideas, web designer Drew Geraci translated the look and feel into web design. Photos taken by Christan Parreira caught the new look of Adam’s Attic collectively and as individuals. Journalist Nate Bates drafted the group’s biography. Finally, Roman Ruiz implemented the album’s graphic design in part by utilizing the album cover designed by Geraci and a photo by Parreira for the back cover.