After releasing their richly complex and criminally underrated debut album Gist Is back in 2014, Leeds-based quartet Adult Jazz are back with “Eggshell”, the first single from a brand new batch of songs Earrings Off!. Quickly establishing themselves with unique narratives and challenging song structures that brought them a lot of comparisons to Dirty Projectors, “Eggshell” shows that the foursome aren’t letting themselves off easy.
Harry Burgess returns to the subject of masculinity/femininity that was briefly touched on on Gist Is and if “Eggshell” is anything to go off of, the EP sees to explore the greater subject of how gender is shaped. Burgess isn’t a heavy-handed lyricist however and his references are slight and offered with a sort of casual swiftness that doesn’t insist upon itself. “A boy with a bow Or a girl without one/Is easier said than done” Burgess sings before going grander and vaguer.
Compositionally, “Eggshell” is all rugged experimentalism shifting between a sort of skittering glitchness and buoyant brass-led melodic flow with a sort of pots and pans percussion fighting for – and ultimately gaining, dominance throughout. It’s an artful blend of electroacoustic effects so you’re never quite sure what’s man made and what’s been manufactured with the exception of Burgess’ croon and the trombone.
Adult Jazz’s upcoming EP Earrings Off! is out May 20th on Tri Angle Records. You can pre-order digital now with LP/CD pre-orders soon to come.
