album stream premiere + inspiration mix: Water Music - Adron
Based on the fairytale like imagery of Water Music's cover, one could probably guess that this is no ordinary musical adventure. The album, out Friday, is a collection of sweet and sentimental pop that's as dazzling and full of sheen as a pearl waiting to be uncovered on the ocean floor. Adron wraps her vocals in a cloak of whimsy, her striking soprano cozying up to your ear with its romantic, fanciful sweetness. As you'll hear in the album, which we're streaming today, and in the accompanying mix of inspirations, Water Music feels like a time warp, transporting you to a place where all your worries and stripped away, and the only thing you can focus on is the magic being created by Adron. Close your eyes and slip into Water Music below.
During the writing and recording of Water Music, I was in a deep romance with the mid-70s, especially soul rhythm sections and keyboard sounds of the time. My drummer, co-arranger, boyfriend-at-the-time and still-best-friend Colin Agnew and I worshipped the drumming of Steve Gadd and many of the albums he featured on. I wasn't wild about James Taylor but coveted his backing studio band. As always, I was obsessed with voices and achieving the most gushy, liquid vocal delivery - check out the Minnie Riperton track and especially the Emotions track, "Don't Ask My Neighbors," one of the most delicious soul ballads I've ever heard. I was also obsessed with building the most perfect arrangement, trying to make room for all my favorite sounds in the musical palate but without overcrowding the composition. Joni Mitchell's track achieves this, as (almost always) does her entire album Court and Spark, where these densely harmonic but agile songs get all this lush instrumental landscaping but the songs themselves aren't (often) obscured for the sake of showing off, and her voice is always pure and in charge. Court and Spark, and Phoebe Snow's 1974 self-titled album were pretty much constantly on rotation with me during the Water Music years.
