adults drop new album ‘the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless’
This album is the sad indie pop playlist of my dreams.
★★★★★
Photo: Press
True to its name, playful seeds of sound and experience are sewn together to create a loving patchwork of an album. Very rarely do I see an album cover that gives me as much joy as this one, and even more rarely is that feeling of closeness and familiarity carried through the entire album.
The album’s opening track, dead red, introduces us to a delightfully simplistic tone. The track discusses the way we respond to negative things happening in the world, and the extent to which our direct response can be hope and love. The lyrics are relatable, while the beat keeps us from getting bogged down: “Sometimes I feel half-dead / But I’m working on my feelings.” This begins one of the overarching themes of the albums: recognising patterns within ourselves.
Track two, flag, uses its title to subtly invoke a political statement. This track also takes on a darker musical tone, with a fuzzy electric guitar and muffled vocals to match. The pace is lifted again with the transition into the album’s third track, crying, while the emotional sentiment in the lyrics still remains melancholy. crying is the inner monologue, and slight inner rage, of not being on the same page with someone, and not working up the courage to talk through it: “We were trying to talk it out / We were trying to talk it through / In our heads / In our own rooms.” crying is one of the major high-points of the album: emotional and up-tempo, relatable and screamable — this song deserves a spot on a movie soundtrack.
northern lights calms down sonically to take on a more inward type of sadness. The song’s title is used in the line “We keep missing the Northern Lights” as well as lines like “I could be what you wanted / When you wanted nothing” to express regret of all the moments that were missed and opportunities that weren’t taken to show love. The track is followed by detrimental, a track about feeling alone, trying and failing to understand another person.
Track six is chest pains, an acoustic tune that begins with the line “there’s a funny feeling in my chest.” This is the intro to one of the most emotional tracks on the album. Invoking all of the feelings of crying in your bedroom late at night, feeling frustrated with yourself and all of the patterns you can’t seem to break out of, the track is universal and an unexpected gem to ground the album at its centre.
In nine lives, the band sings about making mistakes in friendships and choosing to forgive and keep going, for better or for worse. This leads to going round the houses, which continues the thesis of nine lives: choosing to forgive because of all of the good memories you have with someone, despite what both of you may be going through. At the beginning of the track, the band sings “trying not to hate you / like I try not to hate myself / and I love you even if you / couldn’t learn to love yourself,” perfectly summarising the intent of this section of the album.
jetwash is a goodbye to “all the homes I’ve known and loved.” It’s an unapologetic shedding of old skin and moving on from places and people that we’ve outgrown. The track’s faster tempo allows it to take on a very self-assured and powerful presence in the emotional progression of the album. jetwash is followed by pest chains, a play on the album’s earlier track. With the line “I’m not ready to let it go / drag on and on” and the prominent electric guitar throughout the track, it provides an angrier alternative to the earlier feelings of staying in harmful cycles and situations.
wrestle me out, track twelve, uses a much slower and more atmospheric musical approach, so far unexplored on the album. Lines like “headache / those memories scare me / ‘cause now I know the places we have been / and lately I can’t stop disappearing” are some of the best on the album. The song asks, “What’s the point if I go? / If you go?”. The band asks what’s the point of fighting if one of them will eventually give up the fight, and give up on the other person.
wrestle me out leads into the album’s closer, patterns. The track revolves around the memories of someone you’ve lost. It ties in all of the recurring ideas of the album: upbeat tunes with melancholic lyrics, and acknowledging harmful patterns within ourselves. The last minute of the track leaves the album with a windows-down venting of emotion, feeling simultaneously hopeful and exhausted.
the seeds we sow are sprouting buds nonetheless is out now.