Adam Green – Minor Love

Adam Green is perhaps most famous for being the lead singer of anti-folk band, The Moldy Peaches, who are perhaps most famous for having a song in the hit film Juno. As a solo artist he has released five albums to modest critical and commercial success.

On sixth album Minor Love, Green doesn’t seem to have changed an awful lot since 2002. This is no bad thing. He sells his short and sweet indie-pop songs on his tender voice, which some people have described as an acquired taste. I don’t agree with this. There is something so classic and subtle about his vocal performance on this and all of his albums that I can’t help falling in love with his voice every time I hear it.

Musically, for the most part this is very simple. Acoustic indie songs with strong lyrics and very to the point. There isn’t much, if any complexity to the arrangements. There also isn’t a single song on the album that is over three minutes long. This is an album for people with short attention spans. Luckily, I am often in the mood for such a thing.

Opening track ‘Breaking Locks’ sets you up for what’s to come. It’s catchy, as much of the album is, and it’s very warm sounding. It keeps it to a couple of guitars and a bass, with a little bit of organ low in the mix for extra texture.

You could describe this album as one that rewards repeated listens. At first not one song leapt out at me. I was enjoying it, but nothing stuck in my head. There were no obvious singles. After listening to it a couple of times there are definitely some more memorable moments, for better or for worse.

‘Bathing Birds’ is just lovely, and introduces the much-needed Greenesque quirkiness.

My favourite track on the album has to be ‘Castles and Tassels’. It’s fun, funny, a little more exciting than anything else on the album and it contains some fantastic lyrics, such as “Castles and tassels and flatulent assholes/I love you, always”.

For worse? The less said about ‘Oh Shucks’ the better. A song which sets out to be as lo-fi as possible, it ignores the fact that there is a certain art to getting that raw sound, and just ends up being hideous screechy and annoying.

If you’re not an Adam Green fan this isn’t going to change your mind. The album is a slow paced, calm collection of short acoustic indie songs from a man with a great voice and a gift for lyrics. Not terribly exciting, and I doubt I’ll be listening to it in a few months time but for now, it’s nice. That’s sort of it. Nice.