Keith John Adams
PIP
Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records

A singer/songwriter from England who plays literate, funny and catchy as hell pop songs isn’t a really surprising concept for anyone who has payed attention to the lesser known music scene for the last 20 years. After being given the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, John Wesley Harding, and Elvis Costello, it’s possible that we’ve become numb to any emerging new artists of similar persuasions which is why you’ve probably never heard the name Keith John Adams before. Lucky for us here in the States a couple of record labels have been championing his work and Adams recently graced our record shops with the album, PIP, and lucky for the uninitiated listener, it also happens to be really good.

On earlier recordings, Adams either accompanied himself on drum machine or had a bunch of friends recording to one microphone but here, the songs are blissfully fleshed out with a great batch of musicians and a bona fide studio sound. Even the light touches of toy piano on the opening track “Inconsequential Thought” have a rich sound that adds an unexpected and delightful quirk to the track. As well, Adams sounds he has been bolstered and inspired by the upgraded recording quality as his singing has never sounded stronger.

There are only minor grievances that could be filed with this album. One is the unnecessary accordion interlude that comes in midway through the record. Another is the sometimes hard to listen to track “Breathe”. On this track, the toy piano is the only instrument in the song which could be a fun touch to a live set, but in a recorded setting can bring about cringes of anticipation for the end of the song. Again, these are only small problems that this reviewer had with the disc which you might find to be your favorite bits of the record. Once you listen to the rest of this album, this reviewer has no doubt that you will agree that Adams is a sharp new talent that is worthy of attention.