This review of Anniversary by Adeem the Artist was made possible by the generous support of our Patreon subscribers — join us today! Please note that Adeem’s label, Four Quarters LLC, distributes the Rainbow Rodeo zine but Adeem does not have input on editorial content, nor this gracious review by Richard Marcus.
Anniversary is the latest release from the mercurial Adeem The Artist. While they are lumped into the Americana/country genre, their music really defies such simplistic classification. Listen to their latest release and you’ll hear echoes of everything from rock, New Orleans, blues, and of course folk and country, all under one roof.
Maybe that’s what real country music should sound like. Not this stuff we hear propagated by the mainstream acts selling football, pickup trucks, and beer with whisky shots as the true religion. Listening to someone like Adeem is a reminder that Woody Guthrie was ostensibly a hillbilly/country singer from Oklahoma, but also so much more.
On Anniversary Adeem has put together a stunning collection of songs, ranging from the highly personal tunes celebrating the life they’ve carved out with their wife and child, to some pointed commentary on the state of the world today. Each of these tracks carry with them the imprint of a caring and empathic heart; someone who won’t ignore injustice but still retains hope for better times.
An anniversary is supposed to be a celebration, and in part that’s exactly what Adeem has given us with this release. The release date of May third was chosen as it coincided with the tenth year anniversary of their joining with their wife. Their life together is honoured with songs about them – the album’s opening “There We Are” – and their child – the lovely “Rotations.”
Adeem shows their strengths as both a songwriter and a vocalist with both tracks. Instead of giving us some saccharine ode to the joys of motherhood and apple pie, they offer us sheer poetry in both cases. “There We Are,” with its atmospheric musical introduction recreates the hazy atmosphere of summer days as seen through the sheen of memories: “there we are /on a path/along the Tennessee river;/with your teeth bared/and your soft hair, brown-blonde.” The imagery created by the lyrics and the music is so vivid we are immediately carried to that river bank – we see the the two of them and feel their love for each other as a tangible thing. No sentimentality, no Hallmark moments, just a love grounded in reality and moments of absolute beauty.
“How many rotations am I gonna get with you?/To share with you the wisdom & magic spells I
have accrued?/All the laughter and the longing” they sing on “Rotations” while watching their
daughter being a kid. But this song is full of the awareness that she won’t be a kid forever, and
these days are precious. However, it also acknowledges the fact that the child will grow up to be
their own person so they will have to let her go.
Somehow Adeem manages to capture all the bittersweet elements of parenthood with a few simple words and never once spelling it out for us. They let us feel the emotions rising to the surface and the subtext of, ‘how do I hold onto this and let her go at the same time’, percolating beneath every word.
While Adeem may have the shelter of their family to nestle in, they’re not blind to the world around them. “Nightmare,” propelled by a Joe Strummer like guitar opening, is a scathing attack upon right wing politicians around the world, and Tennessee specifically, who are doing their best to make being Queer illegal. Instead of merely ranting about the injustice Adeem likens the laws to banning church services – which is bound to upset some folk – and asks: “Now the place you thought would still be safe/No
longer feels like home /And you understand they don’t believe /But why can’t they just leave you
alone?“
Adeem articulates the frustrations and anger many of us feel when confronted with the trauma humans inflict upon each other. Homophobic/anti-trans legislation, the horror of watching death and destruction on TV (“Nightsweats”) and historical injustices (“White Mule, Black Man”) aren’t the normal subject matter for a country or Americana song, but Adeem isn’t afraid to go down those paths.
Anniversary is a beautiful and intelligent album that places Adeem the Artist into the upper
echelon of today’s singer songwriters. This is the Americana album the world’s been waiting for
whether we knew it or not. Even if some people aren’t ready to hear what it says the rest of us are
simply grateful it exists.
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