This is a piece about integrity. you’ll get there, the new album from Adam Hofmann Revival, is absolutely dripping with it.
Production integrity
Hofmann was kind enough to share with me one of his one hundred limited edition vinyl copies. It’s a beautiful listening experience. The sound capture on all the instruments is incredibly honest. The pianos resonate with emotion. The organs glow in the phones. The individuality of guitars and amps shines through.
There’s a ton of layering here, all expertly done, without a hint of over-production. The vocals always come to the fore; the lyrics are immaculately clear and devoid of any FX trickery. The overdubbing of piano and organ—a pairing among the most definitive in rock—was handled especially well.
The ordering of material is thoughtful and artistic. The album opens to the fanfare rhythms and rolling cymbals of the song you and i. There’s an operatic quality here, announcing from the outset that a storytelling journey has begun. The content is serious throughout, but a few intentional hangovers into studio chatter provide a little levity. The album also lends itself particularly well to vinyl, with special identities for Side A and Side B.
Musical integrity
you and i includes some very fine playing, individually to be sure, but even more so as a collective. No one overplays. The songs are the stars here; purpose and intent is evident in the band’s playing.
There’s a composed—and subsequently orchestrated—quality to this album that belies a higher-order musicianship. There are lots of collective hits and punches- even through some asymmetrical measures- and they’re just plain tight. Tunes move through bridges, modulations, meters, and codas but it all makes good sense.
Chris Carroll’s drumming is worthy of special mention. He contributes mightily to the melodic content of the music—a dying art. A student of mine recently mentioned being in a busy studio that didn’t even own an acoustic drum kit. Carroll reminds us that the toms are, in fact, pitched instruments and can make a melodic contribution.
It’s particularly evident on the track this love ain’t easy. Well executed, 6/8 can communicate a primitive sort of loveliness. This groove has blues at its heart, but Carroll’s work on the skins breathes just a hint of the reel into it, which takes a good tune to an entirely different level: a kind of ineffable folksy/bluesy place that defies pigeon-holing.
Artistic integrity
Make no mistake: Hofmann's poetry is the central feature of the album. There are no songs here about hitting the clubs, getting high, or notching another mark into the bedpost. Titles include heavy heart, loaded heart, scream, and dynamite. Lyrics cover a broad range of emotion and experience with openness and honesty.
It’s beautiful, but it’s not all easy. Such is life.
Overall, you’ll get there is in line the best in studio rock albums. But just don’t try to typecast the band by genre. AHR’s Facebook profile openly taunts those seeking to narrowly define their music:
Artists We Like: Come on, really? In this little box?Influences: Look around and listen.
Band Interests: Music. And anything that is happening around us.
There’s no sense trying to pinpoint what “kind” of music is found on you’ll get there. A few influences that jumped into my ears and onto my notepad include: The Beatles, The Band, The Who, Pink Floyd, Silver Bullet, Clapton, Nirvana… I even caught moment of Jim Steinman in there. But that’s a drastically incomplete list.
Mostly it sounds like Adam Hofmann Revival, and that’s good enough for me.