GIG REVIEWS

Adem
@ Sheffield Boardwalk
15.5.06
www.vanguard-online.co.uk

 “Can you hear me?” whispers Adem into the mike. “Cos I can hear you…” If looks could kill, several excessively noisy students would be lying decapitated at the back of the Boardwalk, their inane chatter still echoing around the small venue as Adem adjusts his killer spex, gently picks up his guitar and begins to play. But as we know, looks can’t actually kill, and some people don’t know when to shut up….

It is something of a problem for Adem, this noise thing. He seems to want to sing very quietly, and for us to be very quiet as we listen to him, and I guess he wants to lend the whole thing a kind of intimacy. It keeps backfiring on him though as the chatter of the small crowd washes all over the opening few songs. I was unfortunate enough to stand in front of a young lady who was singing along at a volume designed to let everyone else know that she really dug Adem, and that she had bought the first album (“Homesongs”) but not the new one (“Love and other planets”). I was only distracted from her support vocals by the moment when a goth bloke accidentally stubbed his fag on a woman’s head. “Hell is other people”, as Jean-Paul Sartre memorably quipped, “particularly goths who drink cider”.

So whilst Adem engaged in a long and protracted whispering competition with the microphone, I took a look around, and what did I see? Couples. Everywhere. (And I can’t talk as I was also one half of a couple). It started to make sense. This isn’t exactly the kind of music which lads will bond over. It’s too wet. And girls, whilst they might appreciate a nice tune, tend to like a good dance. No, this is music for couples. And people-who-would-like-to-be-in-a-couple-but-aren’t-interested-in-pulling-just-now-thankyou-very-much. Don’t expect Adem to be drafted in to replace Liam Gallagher when Noel chops his tongue off with a cymbal on the next world tour.

Adem is undoubtedly at his best when the four other musicians are also giving it some welly, be that on double bass, tambourine, squeezebox, violin, you name it. He does have some great tunes, and the deliberate clunkiness of the band adds to the charm. There is still a problem though- there’s something earnest about Adem’s stuff, something heartfelt, for which you really need to be in the right mood. He runs the risk of taking himself too seriously, of becoming a Moby you can hold hands to.

Chris Blackmore

www.adem.tv