Written by: Dave Cantrell

There are, in this writing business (no matter the subject, be it fiction or non-) struggles and hesitations and creeping doubts galore – should I use this possibly outlandish adjective or keep it tame? Is this too too, a bit over the top? Do you even know what the fck you’re talking about? – the list is likely endless but there are times when every light is glowing as green as green gets, where every hesitation lies buried beneath an avalanche of GO!!, when every everything says “YES! YES! YES!” and that’s where your correspondent finds himself today with the prospect of sitting down at his desk and bashing out a few words in presentation of the latest pre-release single off the upcoming LP (Up’s the New Down, releasing July 10th on Tip Top Records) from the founder/majordomo of 90s faves Adorable, one Mr. Pete Fij.

Now, whether or not you clicked on that link above, simply know that, among the brash relentless surge of bands and artists that made up the so-called Britpop movement in the early 90s, few made such an immediate impression as Adorable. Brash, bass-rich, melodic and just plain driven, they were to many of us the primary example of that brief moment’s brilliance, bringing to the fray that magical blend of power, finesse, and an instinctual ability to go straight for the hook-laden jugular and, for this writer anyway, are the one band I wish had toured through my then-home Portland though perhaps we can count that as one of those ‘blessings in disguise’ seeing as it’s not a given that I would have survived. It’s against that backdrop that the (to me, anyway) out-of-nowhere announcement a couple months back that a solo album was on the horizon came as such a – very welcome – shock and why your correspondent was so very keen to present the new project’s first single a while back and, doubly keen to follow up with the, umm, follow up.

Blessed with an instant wash of hook-laden melodicism, the entire presentation touched with a – somehow – heartwarming malaise (a guaranteed winner of a quality for yours truly), the video accompanying this latest simply could not be more spot on in terms of the subject matter therein, i.e. an instinctual reaction that – rightfully – says ‘rubbish’ to anyone’s effort to confront this current moment’s Orwell-worthy bollocks with anything less than a sneer of dismay (and that’s on a good day).  That it nonetheless manages to present somehow with a gloriously tongue-in-cheek nonchalance that borders on a shrug of ‘fuck it’ while also managing to be what you might call ‘glumly funny as hell’ can not more warm our cockles here in the SEM office as we nod along to a groove that pretty much defines the word ‘timeless.’ All that said, we’ll just let Pete take it away from here, but we do strongly recommend that you stay tuned through the credits to the video’s very end. Ahhh, yes, dark amusement, the very best kind…