by Philip Moss

Dark was the night – Eve Adams’ third record is a mood piece that constantly keeps you guessing

For the closing scenes of nearly all the episodes of 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, David Lynch selected some of his favourite artists to perform songs at The Roadhouse. There was no obvious ‘link’ – lyrical or thematic – but there was very much a mood. And one feels that if the filmmaker had stumbled across Eve Adams, he would most certainly have invited her to join his imagined world.

For Metal Bird is very much a mood record. Blues Look The Same feels like the perfect introduction: the clashes between its No Surprises‘ lullaby soundscape, clanking guitar, and Adams’ soft voice all attempting to foreshadow the LP’s unwinding musicality.

Yet, at the same time, the opener doesn’t really prepare you for Metal Bird‘s woozy, eclectic beauty. The title track leans solely on the ponderous reverb Adams spins with her guitar – such is her voice that the space this creates feels like the only appropriate accompaniment. So slow is the record at times that you fall into its reverie – only to be awoken from its magical daze on Woman on Your Mind with a momentary draw of breath from a puff of brass.

While there’s a faded Hollywood glamour to A Walk in the Park – all finger clicks and shuffles like a Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti score. ‘You could pull over the car, or you could just move on – we’re afraid to admit that this road is so long,’ she sings on a tale that could just so easily be an observation from Sunset Strip after dusk, as the neon lights start to burn that little bit more intensely against the retina, as it could be a lived experience, or tale passed down from her native Oklahoma, or travels between Montreal and Vancouver.

Originally self-released almost exactly a year ago to very little fanfare, we must be thankful to Todmorden label, Basin Rock, for bringing Adams’ craft into view – and showing us how perfect she’d be to take the spotlight on The Roadhouse stage.

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