New music CD review:
Adrian H and The Wounds
(self-titled); Release: 2009
Label: Lest We Forget Records
Adrian H unfolds haunting storylines, reminescent of Rumplestiltskin taking a cracktown walk on the wild side with Lou Reed, in a deep-throated Leonard Cohen style. Original music and lyrical content reflect raw vocalized emotions, the sort of emotions facilitated by waking up alone, unwillingly divorced, and incapacitated by a lingering drunken stupor amid several dozen empty bottles of the cheapest liquer that panhandling can buy; and an unbrazened devotion to the well-crafted stories at hand within each track on this full-length, self-titled debut. The pacing of some song parts on this album also bring to mind the music of Voltaire, a talented dark folk indie music artist with a penchant for heavy handed piano introductions, dry wit, and morbid lyrical themes. Perhaps moody and misunderstood, Adrian H's vocal range initially impresses of an unwashed, swarthy character; the anonymous sort from whom mothers pull away their children, moving hurriedly in any opposite direction. Mothers also say, "Don't judge a book by its cover!" Digging deeper into the album reveals serial, overlapping layers of complexity as each sordid song spins a new tale. Solace for open wounds earned via life's harsh realities may still reverberate deeply once the music stops. Despite these more dynamic audio features developing slowly behind each line of poetry, much of the lyrical content remains simplistic and to-the-point. Ironically, however, some of the lyrical content becomes so metaphical that the mind of any listener may twist and turn in wonder upon the truth lingering still amid the lines of allegorical poetry. Overall, the music immediately provokes imagined visual context to support the creative lyrical storylines. Labour upon piano keys reflects nuances of an exquisite attention toward mood altering audio impacts. As such, each song might easily be paired with sinister cinematic opportunities. The next mission, for those who choose to accept: discover whether Adrian H and The Wounds so profoundly deliver live and on-stage the same enigmatic and provocative music, or whether this band harbours even more horrific new music yet to furtively unveil?
Review by:
Jett Black
www.MusicArtery.com
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Live Show review by Melophobe 1/29/10
http://www.melophobe.com/
The Portland group Adrian H and the Wounds swaggered through swirling stage fog and low green can lights to take the stage. Wrapped in black leather and steel studding from head to toe, Adrian growled through a hypnotizing set of songs from their self-titled CD, released last year. Pursuing the bass lines laid down by Shiggy, he slithered up and down his electric keyboard while Kelby Patterson stayed in the shadows and lent mournful echoes of sax. “The Old Church” is a beautiful example of the group’s ability to blend haunting piano and cigarette-smoke vocals into compelling liturgical alt-rock. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not depressing music. If anything, it gets right to the soul of your darkest thoughts and allows you to let the lyrics in. Broken Heart kept everything right on track, and even Becky came out and “sang” a few lines. - Cathleen Robertson
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Recap: Coflux Festival Review September 25, 2009
Adrian of: Adrian H and The Wounds
He's a man of style alright. His voice drips with evil. It lingers and carries on in your head, long after his intense performance. Permeating your every pore.
His intense talented keyboard playing makes one feel as if he is playing “you” as well..hard and sure.
The band fully talented and worth every note. - Glampire
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Adrian H writes crime scene songs.
His self titled debut with the Wounds features fairytale murders (on the very first track), dirty sex ("Cookies and Cocaine"), molestation ("Smoke") and, frequently shattered love. To say the stories in these eleven tracks are dark and strange doesn't begin to cover it. They're gutter-beautiful, all the more sexy for their seaminess. These tales are filled with impilied people, "she" smells like smoke, "she" likes cookies and cocaine, "he" lived in a stump with a family of ticks, "he" has a sin to tell. Victims? or the Villians? It's clear that every one is a little of each.
Remember when parents warned kids about the evils and temptations of Rock'n'Roll?
They were talking about bands like Adrian H and the Wounds.
But these aren't just recollections of deeds themselves, there are also those post-coital late evening/very early morning moments of contemplation, need and regret. Songs like "I Only Smile to You" remind you why people start doomed relationships, why they drink even though they know the hangover is inevitable. Of couse ditties like "My House" and "She Won't Leave Me Alone" warn you of the dangers of love and loss... the dangers that often lead to the crimes chronicled in other songs. It's wicked, cyclical trap that we (you, me, the narrator) seem cursed to repeat.
Adrian's voice is perfect for conveying his twisted tales, he has that grave-digger rasp familiar to fans of Tom Waits but with more of a sleazey snarl. He's like the sketchy uncle you don't invite to family dinners anymore because he just doesn't get that somethings are *just not* discussed or DONE at the table.
He's also a hell of a piano player. He knows when to attack with it, catching you off guard or bursting forth with a rollicking barrage that pulls you along with it. He also knows when to pull back or be laid back. He can lull as well as rock. He can be a balladeer or a bally, bluesy bastard.
The rest of the band compliments him well. The bass echoes the dread of Adrian's voice, and drummer Broken Heart knows when to fill, when to accent and when to lead the way. He knows his way around a kit and also knows that the best drummers are those who draw you in, not beat you down. I love the occasional inclusion of the saxophone parts, it gives the music a broken jazz feel that somehow completes it.
The end result is like the Doors recording a new-wave album after making out with Nick Cave and Shriekback. Catchy, creepy and great. - Sepiachord 4/24/09
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Adrian H. and The Wounds out of Portland, Oregon positively hypnotized us. Too tall for his keyboards, Adrian H. takes a wide stance and plays that thing like he riding a Harley, crouching and swaying back and forth as he takes the road playing with a nervous fury that is frightening. Backed by Broken Heart on the drum and Shiggy on bass, we were smitten from the kick-start.
Mr. H as a gravelly deep voice that whispers somewhere between Tom Waits and Lux Interior (R.I.P.) and he looks a lot like the late Goth God too. Magnetic like the North Pole. Songs were wonderful. Chanted simple lines repeated endlessly with a classically influenced cacophonous accompaniment that is part Procol Harum and part Depeche Mode.
We loved “Straight Leg With a Crooked Stick” and “She Won’t Leave Me Alone.” The highly infectious “She Smells Like Smoke” is our new favorite song. Hands down, no contest, jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch crazy. I love this band! - Sugarbuzz Magazine
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Take the sound of a man who drinks too much whiskey and smokes too many cigarettes. Make him sing/talk a little like Nick Cave, and give him a band that has a lounge lizard sound and feel like the soundtrack to Corpse Bride. Give them lyrics that are dark, a little morbid, and twistedly sexy. Have all the hallmarks of good gothic lyricism, like the aforementioned cigarettes, as well as sex, death, and love. Throw in murder, old men, and drugs, and you've got a perfect blend.
Adrian H's whiskey and cigarette voice is never loud, and really kind of stays in the same key through the whole album. If this were any other genre, it would not work at all. But this is goth rock, and for some reason only goths and Bob Dylan can have the same vocal delivery for an entire album. His piano work is wonderful, helping to give the music a sound and feel that would fit well in a dark gin joint with pool tables and drunk cougers looking for a fuck.
Broken Heart's drums are never hurried, never rushed, and always on time. A nice laid back feel with wonderful tones. The opening to "Cookies and Cocaine" is just captivating. I could just listen to that first ten seconds over and over.
This album is cohesive as a whole, and the songs can be listened to individually, too. There's no filler here, it's all thought out and well done. Not only is it something that can be listened to, actively engaging you with it, but this album is also perfect for a background sound too. I made supper to it last night, talking with the wife. Who, incidentally, also loved the CD. We actually both agree on all the points with this disc, and I can say for both myself and my wife, Adrian H and the Wounds' self-titled disc gets an eight out of ten. Super standout tracks for me are "Cookies and Cocaine", "Smoke", and "She Won't Leave Me Alone (The Bug Song)".
I'd recommend this disc to fans of Bauhaus, Joy Division, the Cure, and modern goths 13th Sky. I'd also recommend it to fans of Danny Elfman and Tim Burton's films. -Funeral Rain Zine
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As soon as Portland’s Adrian H. strikes the first piano key on Adrian H and the Wounds’ self-titled debut, you know what you’re getting yourself into. Haunting pianos played in 3/4 time create a waltzlike sound that could very well be mistaken for the soundtrack of an old-school horror flick. Adrian’s voice sounds like Tom Waits with a Transylvanian accent and his lyrics read like horror stories. As I listened, I couldn’t help but think of Jason Segel’s Dracula rock opera in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The album is piano-driven, with the faint sounds of bass and drums humming morosely in the background. And it’s a concept album—the concept being an overwhelming sense of loneliness, confusion and eeriness that would make Bram Stoker (or Jason Segel) proud. KATRINA NATTRESS. - The Willamette Week
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While most musicians who cite Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and Tom Waits as influences are nothing more than cheap imitators, Adrian H and The Wounds are much more than that. Though Adrian H & The Wounds definitely channel the aforementioned greats, their work remains original and wholly unique. - Hitt Music Group
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After years in the Southwest music scene, Adrian H. relocated to Portland Or. from Austin Tx. to write dark modern songs on instruments usually slapped with a classical label. In light of what he is now doing, Adrian H. cites as influences lost lounge parlor souls like Tom Waits and Nick Cave. On a casual listen, his work is as if Brian Eno, instead of writing soundtracks to imaginary films, set himself to producing morbid lullabies. - The Caller Times
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“Imagine Boris Karloff singing dark lullabies in your ear as you sleep; there you have Adrian H and The Wounds” – Kevin Nettleingham/Nettleingham Audio
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“Adrian H and The Wounds sound like the bastard sons of Nick Cave and Tom Waits”
- Robert Bartleson/Haywire Studios
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Led by a crisp digital piano and a growl that splits the difference between Tom Waits and Cookie Monster, Adrian H and the Wounds' hand-wringing music is claustrophobically melodramatic. There's something cartoonishly gothic about Adrian's songs, like Nick Cave playing the role of Max Schreck in a Broadway musical directed by Tim Burton. It's the ideal soundtrack for reciting Poe and agonizing over which tattoo will piss off Daddy the most. Adrian H and the Wounds celebrate the release of their self-titled CD tonight, and lyrics like, "She likes cookies and cocaine, she likes blowjobs in the rain" indicate the mixture of sweet and skeevy contained therein. NL - The Portland Mercury
