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Adam Gnade is the American in question who teamed up with Youthmovies on a two week UK tour. As the five tracks were written on the road, it shouldn’t come as much as a surprise that Gnade has some Jack Kerouac influences in his beat-folk-rap-poetry along with an emo-like love of long titles.

Recorded in the summer back in Oxford, on the music side, Youthmovies, Al English and Andrew Mears (guitars), Graeme Murray (drums), Stephen Hammond (bass, synthesizer) and Sam Scott (trumpet, flugelhorn, organ) provide the psychedelic ambience that owes as much the experimental electronic jazz scene (a la Jim Black of ZAUM/Torque) as indie-pop bands.

The first two tracks are more guitar-based emoish (somewhere between early Talking Heads and an electric Willy Mason) but the inclusion of a trumpet provides some soul.

What really makes this a great collaboration, which does justice to Adam’s “talking-song” style are the remaining ambient ones. You wouldn’t want to be listening to this on the car stereo, broken down in the depths of a moonless night, in a forest, on your own, as it’ll be too scary. But then again, you might. If you’re brave enough try ‘We’re Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Cross Hairs’ and ‘We Were Born From Floodwaters’. Ideal for the soundtrack of Hereos for the surreal druggy sections.

Talking of drugs, ‘Snake Lore, Part II: Hold Back The Flame, O Weary Friends!’ seems like a tribute to the old Lizard King himself, Jim Morrison.

Ambitious or ambient Cinematic Orchestra? A better comparison would be an ‘indie’ version of the spirit of Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Bands’ Leggo De Lion based on Joseph’s book The African Origins of UFOs.

Gnade’s first book Hymn California continues the narrative of the characters from these ‘songs’, and it comes out this winter which will be about the time Youthmovies will release their debut album.

Remaining UK October Tour Dates
23rd Aldershot, West End Club
24th Plymouth, Hub
25th Winchester, Railway
26th Brighton, Audio
27th Oxford, Zodiac

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘We Were Born From Floodwaters’, ‘We’re Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Cross Hairs’, ‘Snake Lore, Part II: Hold Back The Flame, O Weary Friends!’

Reviewed: Adam Gnade & Youthmovies — Honey Slides (Try Harder Records) Cat. No. WORK006 Release date: 01 Oct 2007
Tracklisting:
1 Honey Slides (2:54)
2 It’s Five O’Clock In America (2:29)
3 We’re Unknowing In The Crosshairs, We Walk Unknowing In The Cross Hairs (5:43)
4 We Were Born From Floodwaters (4:39)
5 Snake Lore, Part II: Hold Back The Flame, O Weary Friends! (5:17)

Links:
www.myspace.com/youthmovies
www.drownedinsound.com/youthmovies
www.myspace.com/gnade
www.myspace.com/tryharderrecords
www.tryharderrecords.com
Hell Is Chrome Interview with Adam Gnade 7th October 2007 hellischromefullstop.blogspot.com
Kerouac