I’m pretty sure that even calling your album “Littoral Zone” is some kind of statement of artistic intent but has Adam Ross really and truly bought himself a jaunty fedora and taken to pondering the fate of the world from the inside of a vegetarian coffee shop? Has the artist formerly known as Eerie Indie Adam finally bought a cravat? Read on, as they say.
Adam Ross writes some pretty serious songs. I suppose that he always has and “Littoral Zone” indeed gives us more of the same. The playfulness so often evident in Randolph’s Leap is notably absent although the odd touch of whimsy is retained in songs such as “Union Gary” and songs directly inspired by exposure to red lipstick are also in short supply. However, neither is this ten pints of melancholy as, while Adam Ross seems to almost revel in the verisimilitudes and trivialities of life, he never forgets that a song with a story worth telling will always prevail over any and all emotional misfortune.
So, there is also a fair degree of self-reflection to be found in his words but, given the state of the world, that is par for the course these days and he clearly has the lyrical ability to abstract his intellectual nihilism into rounded words that fit squarely into his trademark contrived rhyming couplets to thus provide yet more proof that Adam Ross will always have a better thesaurus than the rest of us.
“Littoral Zone” contains not a single song that you would dance to yet there is, nonetheless, something here that will add a mixer to your spirits and the ghost of Eerie Indie Adam is still hiding somewhere in the shadows even if maturity has otherwise overtaken Adam Ross. I’m also reasonably certain that he hasn’t bought a cravat either (yet).
Best Song: “Life Is Not A Competition”
Verdict: Serious.
Available from Bandcamp and the other usual outlets.