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About The Soul

by Joe Adhemar

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Vinyl Master by Cyclone Music. Limited number of Single sleeve LP's with hand written lyric sheet on glossy 170GM paper.

    Includes unlimited streaming of About The Soul via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 150 

      £15 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    For just a £10 + P&P you will receive a Gatefold Digipak with accompanying artwork, personal message and whatever else I can throw into a sturdy cardboard envelope, that takes my fancy.

    Includes unlimited streaming of About The Soul via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 200 

      £10 GBP

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Available on Vinyl 12", Gatefold Digipak CD. Vinyl expected November 22.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    If you wish to upgrade to the Vinyl version and have already purchased the CD or Digital Download of "About The Soul" this option is for you!
    Priced at £5 less than the album itself. Please make sure you have purchased either the CD or the digital download to qualify.

    Includes unlimited streaming of About The Soul via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      £15 GBP or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 5 Joe Adhemar releases available on Bandcamp and save 15%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Synesthete, About The Soul, Existential Dreadlocks, Angry or Serene?, and Found Ourselves. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £25.50 GBP or more (15% OFF)

     

1.
He’s got a suntan made of grime And a beard so cool it makes your clean shaved face a crime His hair’s electric and a smile that’ll make your day He’s a tramp in St Tropez His smile won’t be quantified He’s got the look with a magic eye He ain’t looking to occupy So why are you so scared? Hold on, he's showing his hand As the billionaire recoils got no time for this man Sometimes beauty is having no plan He is watching you and getting near As you stand in your bathrobe from your Triple deck yacht you peer Looking down on him with dismay At this tramp in St Tropez His smile won’t be quantified He’s got the look with a magic eye He ain’t looking to occupy So why are you so scared? Hold on, he's showing his hand The billionaire recoils got no time for this man Sometimes beauty is having no plan He's a tramp from St Tropez Sometimes beauty is having no plan
2.
I heard your Jesus weeping He said your claims weren't true He gave it up for free You sold it all to me without a soul Your Jesus won't be keeping those secrets you claim to hold Your God emits a sigh He ain't a lord on high since you lost your soul About the soul
3.
Power Lines 03:26
Fizzing and crackling as you stretch to the tropopause Subtly kettled bleeding electrons cos These power lines feed function sublime we all need Fixing and nurturing youngsters with neon beams Pinning their future on the nuclear fusion teams All of the light from our portable phones wrecking souls Cover the landfill Burn what you can’t kill Cage all the chimps that have tried to escape what you sell We sold all the silver to the market dismay Disposable incoming future today For the people who sold out to the People who hold out for less The power line’s tripping as the monsters crowd round Feasting on bones before they’re in the ground These power lines drawn that will keep us forlorn And alone Cover the landfill Burn what you can’t kill Cage all the chimps that have tried to escape what you sell
4.
I remember the buzz of a summer in June and the smell of cut grass by the ponds The bees on the holy magnolia trees sang for childhoods that never felt wrong We picked at young knees these abrasions of living a life so oblivious to fear Forgive me. Can we put it all back. Can we put it all back We majored in innocence and played to our strengths to a nature that couldn’t reply Looking behind us I shudder to think that reaction these days is a sigh We broke our connections to the temptress called Gaia who laid out her treasure for us Forgive me. Can we put it all back? Please forgive me.
5.
Today seems like a good day, a good day for falling down We can nestle amongst the litter and teach me not to frown so much Search for what is reason, reason in the skies I search your face for something with every season in our eyes I could read your palm and you could learn to howl To a moon that forgot your spirit forget it, WE get it all We could leaf through books on Dali on those days when it rains Or paint our life with numbers It pains me to say the numbers win Nauseating choices and numbness that is beige Waking up in boxes and boxed into a cage Horizons that are endless and seas that are always calm I think I died of boredom when I neutered all your charm So hide with me in litter and cover me with leaves This view from our precious gutter is all that relieves us I hear the weather's turning nasty and the salad's turning brown Let's crack on with this falling let's really go town on this
6.
For Free 03:35
Baby tell me secrets That I’ll hold on in the night Wear that special negligé That fills me up so fine Wear your favourite perfume And drink that extra wine I’ll hang on every word you say My attention for tonight See I know it’s far from perfect When the love evaporates And the world it keeps on spinning As it presses on your soul But look into my weary eyes And shrug in time with me But here’s a thing here’s a thing They will never steal our kindness See I know it’s far from perfect When the love evaporates And the world it keeps on spinning As it presses on your soul But look into my weary eyes And shrug in time we'll see Drink more wine with me But here’s a thing here’s a thing They will never steal our kindness Kindness ain't a weakness Kindness is the key Kindness there to find us Kindness is for free
7.
The Knowing 03:20
I grabbed my phone and stepped outside Go grab a coffee in a café where I can hide There’s the man with the wildest eyes And he can hear the Knowing He always hears the Knowing I stepped aside for the tortured man All this knowing but without our master plan I could ask him about his day But he will tell me of the Knowing He always talks of the knowing The knowing feels bitter The knowing is here It feasts on the marrow Of bones you hold dear It’s a stranger to pleading And it knows all your shame It knows of your black dog And it calls out his name The knowing will find you When the world is upturned It grows deep inside you When the ground’s feeling firm And the man that you step round Has conquered his whim He welcomes the knowing With a virtuous grin I think he is trying To teach me to know her But the world is so fast And I don’t want it slower Is this man a savant Is he not round the bend? Is he trying to say Make the knowing my friend?
8.
Giorgio 05:28
Giorgio in the flow - pulsing light - feels so right - Bass was his -Octovation - Innovation I might be feeling older I'm a disco weary soldier I can sing about the bass line Of Giorgio Moroder
9.
The last time we drank wine it didn't seem so bad to me No idea you'd drawn the line Digging your tiny tunnels in the sand You have always drifted Always shape shifted Whilst you held your aces close But ace is low It's not the way to go Giving me that body blow that day The puzzle you always set Your principle's a mare you can't untangle You were somewhere gathering sighs And you sensed the shadows weren't for you So throw it all away my friend Make the shiniest friends of yours disposed of I know you prefer it slow but I'll miss you even though Our world has changed You're not the only one who feels it but I think you forgot this Burning all your bridges because you have been gathering sighs You gave in I gotta begin to throw your memory away Goodbye my Friend
10.
Last year we found our demons That each of us possessed We kept them in the darkness Along with all the rest And many kept on feeling Are these journeys made in vain? Keep on driving on without us And don’t dare to use our name So we’ll sing your muddled chorus In a key we cannot play And when our lungs are emptied We will slowly fade away (Do you hear the) sirens That amplify our shame? Yet you drive this car without us And you dare to use our name So sing your sweet chorus In a key we can’t see And when our lungs are empty You can fade out with me We’ve got scraps inside our psyches That trace a path to shame And a head full of weary strangers That don’t even know our name Fade away

about

Gain an insight into the origins of this album by listening to the interview with Moby Tanner and Danny Milner below.

www.mixcloud.com/inyourearsmusic/joe-adhemar-about-the-soul-album-introduction-with-old-indie-kid-and-moby-t/

I grew up with the early sounds of synth-pop and was most enthusiastic towards the bands who did not get drawn into synthesiser's more complex sound generation potential, but instead my own vinyl collection grew bigger each month by featuring artists who stuck to simple arpeggiated motifs with beautiful musicality: The song first, with the outer-worldly synthesisers, an augmentation. This album is a product of that joyous exploration that you get with such a wonderful addition to your sonic palette as a song-writer/producer.

Midge Ure of Ultravox, Vince Clark of Depeche Mode and Yazoo, or Paul Buchanan of Blue Nile and not forgetting Giorgio Moroder (who I have gone as far as writing track 8, to salute the guy) - all these acts have endured because of their songwriting, NOT because their noises were made on gigantic, unaffordable collections of synths.

Despite the dominance of synthesisers in much of this album, it kicks off with a 60's psychedelic groove with 'Tramp in St Tropez'. A track describing the incongruity of sitting in a café a few years ago beside St Tropez marina seeing two individuals at either end of the spectrum of wealth.

'About The Soul' is one of those driving synth tunes that harnesses the linearity of the ARP 2600 with a solid drum track. Like Gary Numan, who rarely used a drum machine except for embellishments, I too wanted this to sound like 'Replicas'. Real drums, unreal layers. It plays havoc with the stereo field with blips and plinks dotted around the headphone wearer, taking you on relentlessly with an 8 part choir (all me) towards the finalé. If Welsh Male Voice Choirs did electronica, I'd like to think it might be this.

'Power Lines' is another vocally harmonic power track. It's a Waltz which rarely gets much light as a time signature in EDM, but I'd like to think the counter-rhythms bring the listener in as they try and untangle the beat complexity. It a lyric that refers to 'Power' as both electrical and what is wielded by some in society.

'Put it all back' is a style of piano playing I've always enjoyed playing but rarely write a song around. When I play live I will use this style to sing to, to add some rhythm to a 6/8 track. I am particularly proud of the way this song breathes and the vocal legato slide harmony is a regular feature in my song writing. A lyric that is entirely about nostalgia.

'Good Day For Falling' - Reggae is all about being tight and loose at the same time. I have not dared to record a reggae tune for 35 years as a musician because it is something that is often done quite poorly by my peers. I would not be releasing this if I didn't think I've made the grade but what I truly cherish about this track is that it is melodically quite odd. In the same way Nirvana were melodically odd. And with that oddity, I think it justifies it's existence. Just.

'For Free' This song was knocking around for a year or so. It only found it's mojo when I fired up the Wurli Piano and started to noodle. This gave it a kind of sexiness that demanded a lyric to fit. The person it is for, knows it's for them. Not in a Carly Simon way. If you get that, you are in my team of self aware music fanatics. Give yourself a biscuit. Keep being kind.

'The Knowing' is dark and again, odd. A lyric about the 'Sonder' (google it) of others less fortunate. The second song (after 'Tramp in St Tropez') that features a theme on homelessness. 'Shelter' are my charity for as long as I am lucky. I wrote this song over 15 years ago. It appeared originally with a lyric and vocal by someone else as 'The Howling'. For a number of reasons, I've removed their contribution and totally re-imagined it.

'Giorgio' is a song that I am very proud of the sonic weaving I ended up with. I am also particularly proud of the bass line that has some subtle harmonic layering going on that I will never tell you how I did it, until you get me signed as a label producer. Got me? Tweet me, tweet me good.

'Goodbye My Friend' was written in a brand new way for me. I just played the piano and sang live. Added the synths later and the odd overdub. The only song that is not to a click track. A song that is about loss in all its guises.

'When Our Lungs are Empty' - This I believe, is my most powerful vocal performance to date and it signals a start of a vocal style more baritone than my previous works. Low, slow and quiet. This type of vocal delivery is something I will stick within from here on. If you have time to listen to my previous albums you will hear a singer trying to find their style and I freely admit, the only aspect of my previous works that I felt unsure about, was my vocal. I am now sure. Thanks for your patience. Finally, this is another song written by myself a long time ago, collaborated over and then all traces of that collaboration deleted to give it a new lease of life. It finally breathed without that input. And even if it did, that collaborator has moved on to their own, solitary path.

Album 'finishers' are often considered the strongest tracks of most albums. I'd like to think this has a good shout at that title.

Do check out the lyrics for each track as you listen along. I'd like to think I'm getting there with the inherent ambiguity and imagery.

I can now give you my deepest appreciation for reading this far in the album description. Wherever you may be in this diverse Bandcamp community, you have my sincere thanks for participating in one of the last corners of integrity in the independent scene. Enjoy the album and do check out my other works here in their remastered versions.

PS. To the many names who I have acknowledged on the album cover and on a postcard accompanying the CD, you are there because at some point during my tenure as an artist, you have said a kind or supportive thing about my work or introduced my work to others, via a blog or a radio show. You are intrinsic to the scene we all shuffle about within. I applaud you all. And apologise to the people I have missed.

PPS. If the electronica is your favourite aspect of this album, I must take the opportunity to plug my second artist profile on BandCamp.
"Invisible Squirrel" is where I unleash my musicality without loops but with the intention to get you up dancing and stay there.

invisiblesquirrel.bandcamp.com/album/sonder

Video for 'About The Soul'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVB85VEpv1k

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released July 12, 2022

Cyclone Music (Vinyl Mastering)

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Joe Adhemar London, UK

Joe is both a songwriter and Producer / Remixer.

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