Review Summary: Adjy’s debut Grammatology is at once very dense and very accessible.
Adjy is unabashedly pop in style and delivery. The vocals mixed high over top of furious keys, synth and on occasion guitar and banjo. The first song on the EP which runs at the average of 6:18 incorporates a feeling of emotional desperation. The refrain “I crave you- the way you see” is filled with a need that is palpable. This song then climaxes in to group vocals that shout over frenzied synth that gets more cacophonous and layered.
The next song is similar but carried along by banjo that then is built upon with multiple synth lines. The climax of this song is reminiscent of a joyous Panic! at the Disco or Passion Pit at a lower register.
The next song dwells on the concept of the numbers 3, 6 and 9 with a slow ambient approach. Which is reminiscent of latter era Copeland. Christopher Noyes vocals are put through a vocoder to give this feeling of space. It is a song of quiet repetition that burns out at the 6:00 minute point.
Noyes vocal style is very soothing, think the restraint of Copeland’s Aaron Marsh and the croon of Justin Vernon.
The vocal lines are what hooks you as a listener. They are immensely catchy but not predictable. The timing of his lines seems just slightly left of field that makes each hook more engaging. The mood of the album overall is one that is anthemic, ambitious, and life affirming.
The music is continuously engaging throughout Grammatology’s 30 minute run time. Multiple layers of keys, synth and percussion create an atmosphere of constant movement.
The lyrics are where things get properly dense. Imagine electronic pop written by a philosophy major. That doesn’t mean the lyrics are filtered through the Nietzsche thesaurus; instead of throwing nine dollar words at us Noyes chooses to scatter references to interesting concepts in concrete ways. Songs reference the interconnectedness of us as humans “I long for the paintings of my father’s, father’s, father – the red ochre, ash, and hematite,” the nature of the numbers 3,6,9, which are built into the fabric of these pieces to create a cohesive flow. He even uses the elemental properties of silicon to demonstrate the choice we have in becoming who we should be.
It’s these creative metaphysical conceits that really ease the listener into these big ideas. Yes this is an album of questions some of them could almost be viewed as parodies of philosophical interrogation “if all of this is arbitrary why does it happen at all” being one example. But there is a sincerity to all this searching which isn’t so far removed from Aaron Weiss’s public search for truth via mewithoutYou.
In the end the album has something to say about identity, we are all constructed by the past and cultural context and have very little control over who we are but the very process of acknowledging that is a positive move to self-actualization.
Of course none of this is really needed to enjoy the music much like Coheed and Cambria’s storyline, it’s all a bonus. But for me this search for what makes us, us, resonated immensely.
The last lines of the lyric booklet (though not actually in any of the songs) is the conclusion he comes to that is as satisfying for me as it could be frustrating for others:
“You’re not an individual… but you can be…”
