genres: folk + experimental + post-rock
Some music is immediate, grabbing the listener’s attention from first listen. Other music is dense, repulsive to most ears without repeated exposure. What Adjy have done here really doesn’t fit into either category. It can be whatever the listener wants to find. On the surface it’s percussive folk rock, somewhere between the bombast of Mumford & Sons and the more pensive literary musings of The Oh Hellos. It’s easy enough to throw this record on for some great summer driving music. But look a little deeper, and things start getting very weird. A musical mystery, of sorts. While the final production is nothing but audible harmony, each instrument is often doing its own thing, with completely independent melodies and time feels from its neighbors. Even the frequent unifier in such polyrhythmic, polyphonic music – a drum line that gives everyone else common points of unity – doesn’t exist in standard form. Rather than provide a stable backbone, even the drums have their own musical voices among the constellation of instruments. The musicianship and compositional talent needed to perform this at all, let alone how well the band succeeds here, is nearly unfathomable.
Although this is a dense concept album (more on that in a minute), each track maintains a unique feel with many standouts that deserve places in playlists independent of the larger work. Opening track “In Medias Res (Between Longing and Mystery)” does a great job of luring listeners in, with infectious call and response vocals headlining the track. “A Boy Called June, Pt. I” makes magnificent work of thundering drums and breakneck banjos alternating with joyfully lackadaisical passages highlighted by folky melodica melodies. With the most energetic and dynamic vocal performance of the album, the brisk pacing of the album is smartly established before asking the listener to engage with more subtle progression in subsequent tracks. Perhaps the best standalone track of the entire album occurs about halfway through, with “Where June Meets July: IV. O Tonight”. A longing intro with country tinges gives way to an absolutely massive build into a truly grand melding of group vocals, post-rock compositional care, and the rhythms and textures of a campfire singalong.
While the music is enough to make this a remarkable album that would standout in any year, it might not even be the most interesting part. On the surface, the lyrics tell a relatably small scale story of youthful summer romance and the subsequent challenges. The majority of the album is a dialog between the characters (named June and July, though all voiced by the same singer), and despite evocative language borrowing frequently from British literature, midwestern nature, and church ritual, it remains easy enough to follow. But then there’s a third character. The Alchemist. Though serving as narrator, the mere presence of such a magical character (especially one not common in modern society) amid an otherwise grounded tale of middle America corn and love is enough to invite dedicated listeners to take a closer look. And helpfully, the otherwise mysterious band[1] provides lyrics on the album’s website. However, instead of illuminating the mysterious alchemical presence, everything becomes more cryptic. The text of each song is accompanied by alchemical symbols, Scripture references (often in Latin or Hebrew), numeric codes, quotations from ancient mythical texts, and formatting reminiscent of medieval manuscripts. All without a handy guide to deciphering their meaning.
While the combined meaning of all the codes and symbols can likely never be understood without hand-holding by the band, individually, it’s not hard to start diving in. While writing this I’ve got a half dozen tabs open to Google Translate, Bible Gateway, an introduction to alchemical formulas, and more. And while I can’t be sure I’ve cracked any of the codes, it’s impossible to deny the depth of experience that this gives to any dedicated fan wanting to enrich their experience of the album. But the real mastery is that none of this is required to enjoy it. Even if you never open the deeper mysteries created by Adjy, this album deserves to be checked out by anyone with even a passing interest in folk or alternative rock.
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[1]: Adjy is a very mysterious band, clearly doing this for the love of the music rather than chasing fame or clout. The band doesn’t appear to have any social media other than Bandcamp despite being on a fairly prominent label. Additionally, all of their previous releases dating back to 2016 seem to be working with at least a general knowledge of this project (of which this release appears to be only the first half, hopefully we won’t have another five year wait until the conclusion).
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