Written by: Dave Cantrell
To the extent there’s any such thing as a spell or an elixir that magically impedes – if not reverses entirely – the ravages of time there are, to this writer’s mind, only two potential candidates: love, of course (being madly in same at the age of seventy is, from what I can tell, essentially identical in its time-stoppingness as when one is seventeen) and – doubly in terms of said effect, I believe – music. While one might argue that the arts in general lend themselves to that sense of momentary immortality, it’s our view here at SEM that, due to the very fact that it’s the only artistic pursuit that’s inextricably, which is to say unavoidably, tied to time it’s therefore pretty much inevitable that our human lizard brain would, while in the midst of, um, grooving out via whatever delivery system, sense itself outside of time, untouched by it, impervious to its every tick and tock. Now, I could cite personal experiences aplenty (The Cure at the London School of Economics in 1979 comes to mind but I digress) but seeing as we have before us today a pretty much faultless example in the form of former Adorable singer Pete Fij’s latest work (and if you need a quick re-up or even a first look-in to that Britpop-era band we impel you most imperatively to click that link) which, from every indication matches the dynamics and pure presence of that by-now long-ago project – itself a fact that’s no less than stunning – there’s not much reason to look anywhere but in the here and now and oh my does Mr. Fij deliver.
The first track on the upcoming new full-length Ups the New Down (releasing via Tip Top Records this coming Friday, November 28th while the single itself – yes, an actual 7″ – is available right now), “Love’s Coming Back” doesn’t so much arrive as materialize like a full-on radiant shadow and while that may reasonably present as a paradox, believe us, there’s just no other way to describe it, Fij’s voice enveloping the first words – “My broken heart“ – in a voice that sounds like God got caught up in a seance and cannot help but testify to the pain inherent. That a thunderous burst of drum and bass descends upon that word ‘heart’ with a propulsive drive that, indeed, reminds us of what we felt when first hearing Adorable all those years ago yet does so while transcending it at the very same time, well, consider us gobsmacked. I mean, truly, if someone had randomly approached us on the street or something and asked what we thought a Pete Fij-centered project would sound like in 2025 we’d have nodded agreeably while muttering something along the lines of “Well, not sure, but we’d love to hear it” while thinking ‘Oh lord, Adorable; that’s quite the legacy to live up to’ and carried on with our day, pondering the variables, wincing with the context of other similar ‘what-ifs’ that have materialized over the years shadowing our thoughts. But then…but then…THIS!! In the end, what can we say. This is thunderously good and joy reigns in our hearts.
