Moderate Rock

Initially this, the debut solo effort from erstwhile Calculator and Never Young member Chris Adams, feels thinly sketched. It’s less than half an hour of lo-fi indie rock that started life as side project demo material, and at times it sounds like it. The title track shimmies along on quiet, popping drums and softly distorted guitars, and ‘Plexiglass’ is hardly there at all, like it’s being played on a small stereo in the room next door. Hitting skip and moving on though, is harder than it seems. ‘Through a Coil’ is deceptive, infectious, and tough to ignore. Whoozy, whirry melodies that seem like they should evaporate, instead solidify and stick and expand slowly around whatever part of your memory still works. The queasy lurch of ‘Dovetail’ is capable of appealing equally to fans of Oasis, Beck and Shellac with aplomb, the loping riff of ‘Sensory Field’ should come with an addictive ingredient warning, and hours after first hearing it, right in the middle of making dinner or even listening to another record, the hooks and melody of ‘Rubber Band’ will, appropriately, bounce back into your mind without warning. Sneaky good.