Gnade is an artist based in Portland, a writer, musician and all round super talented lad. Over the past few years he has toured the States and the UK twice with numerous eclectic music makers, he has also released records on a handful of indie labels including 'Drowned in Sound Records', 'Loud + Clear', 'DeathBombArc' and 'Try Harder Records'. 

Gnade has collaborated with various bands and last year he released a rambunctious, fit of a culture clash E.P called 'Honey Slides' with Oxford, UK based 'Youthmovies', a bold record that featured Gnade's brand of  talk-record Americana, fused with infectious British, electro-noise rock.

During his last UK tour he released a self-published 60-page Novella, 'Seasons Loving Nothing' which was only available on the tour, it soon sold out and another run of the book was printed once the tour was over and was distributed on his myspace profile. The last run also sold out quickly and Gnade's first full length novel 'Hymn California' is to be released this spring by 'Dutchmoney Books'.

His style is raw, sharing prose in his very distinct and unique way, crafting "talking songs" that shoot for the gut and stick it to your heart. Songs of love, life, city living and country rambling, war, peace, stories from home, stories from the road, dripping with vivid imagery, exploring the light and darkness of everyday life.
 
Performing Live, he sometimes plays alone, a beaten guitar and an assortment of unlikely instruments, some homemade, at other times he plays with a band of traveling music makers, disjointed and often displaced, but all sharing the passion to make noise, to unite and produce something larger then themselves alone.

The Palaces/Whidbey Island Double E.P in cd format was released late last year on Bad Drone Media, the 12" Vinyl release with each E.P pressed on either side is set to drop in a few months under the same imprint.

The Double E.P is a Limited Edition and features handmade artwork and liner notes. Spray painted card-slip cases in purples, greens and pinks are stamped with black and silver images of trees, palaces and names, each one is tied together to form a double package with coloured embroidery thread. Every cd is unique and different, sweet, pretty gifts that contain clips of someone else's time and space, life observations on love, politics and world affairs.

This fella has the right idea. If artists are going to survive in the music business, during this digital revolution they're going to have up the anti, raising the bar for themselves and others, making their product more desirable and unique. DIY releases are seriously the way to go if you want to secure your fan base and create a record that is going to stand out, not just in content but visually. Anyone can download a track and listen to it, but to recieve a real cd, that is a limited edition, to hold it in your hands, a handcrafted and beautifully presented package is truly something else, special. Gnade shows us that its the little things that count, not only with his words, but with every album he releases, his cd's are consistently sold out and always in high demand for a reason.

THE GOODS - 

PALACES E.P:

This 5 song E.P will give you a taste of Adam's gritty-edge, his honest recounting of seemingly normal daily activities which as he explains them become little worlds, with poignant meaning and note worthy impact. His music is not easy to catergorize, a mix of styles, elements taken from old talking blues records, working songs and spiritual tunes of time gone by, some call it Americana, others traditional folk, but the common thread which links all these genres is a raw and real roots element that is most definitely present throughout this record. 

'Palaces' first song features sparkling bells and twangy banjo, it is the E.P's namesake track and relays a dark tale of being displaced, and feeling alone when coming back to a city after being away for sometime.

The tunes on this E.P are full of haunting, dark imagery; grave yards, compost heaps, dirt, coffins, stink bugs, lonely corn field and expressways, but as in the 3rd song on the E.P 'Farm House' there is normally a little lyrical lightness to lessen the oppression of the heavy subject matter- 

"We'll sit in our kitchen and eat apple pie and oh lord how we'll talk!" - 'FarmHouses', Palaces. 

'Farmhouse' also features the kalimba giving the song a innocent, childhood musical box air, this coupled with the moody lyrical content, can really set you on edge and make you feel just as uncomfortable as the characters within the song.

The last tune 'Providence' is a passionate piece which samples an old gospel choir recording of "Goodbye Fair thee Well", scratchy and slowed down on vinyl, truly beautiful and yet also highly unsettleing. There's no way around it, this E.P is dark...dark but also lovely.

"It's a Texas Sun, Booming and Triumphant and big as a house, in Texas where a heat mirage looks like a sheet of tin foil stretched out across the highway" - 'Sadie', Palaces. 

WHIDBEY ISLAND:

This E.P is the first in Adam's "Island Trilogy" the second of which, 'Become an Island', is set for a limited-edition release later this year.

'Whidbey Island' was recorded in a house situated on a cliffside of Washington State's Whidbey Island with friends David and Thaddeus Christian. The E.P features five songs strung together with stories of family, friends and experiences which lightly float on a bed of deep acoustic bass, tinkle mandolin and warm, weathered acoustic guitar.

Compared to 'Palaces', 'Whidbey' sounds more open and fresh. The songs are packed with room noise and mic pops. Low-fi production was key in giving this E.P it's warm vibe, finger picked guitar tones support Gnade's smooth voice which delivers words about driving, small-town dreams, conversations and observations, responisibility, walks in woods, machines and animals. Between each track you are bought back to nature and Gnade's reality, with the use of field sample recordings, bird calls, dogs barking, open air distant conversations, streams and babbling brooks.

The E.P is revealing and thought provoking, simple sentences ring loud and true, commenting on what he sees and hears around him, more often than not the characters in his songs find themselves becoming disconnected and lost -

"In their houses they're silent and stare at boxes of wire and copper." - 'Stake a Claim', Whidbey Island.

The record ends with the powerful acoustic guitar driven song 'Bunkers' a tune which highlights struggles of balancing life in the country and city, reflecting on times gone by and how those events relate to present times. Using his voice as a call to attention, by relaying the struggles of pioneers and his lands forefathers, this song is a wake up call for those who are stuck in the grasp of city living -

"speak a verse to the ones who wallow in fear, and in jobs that make them machines, and homes that are bunkers, and in desert countries. These words are theirs, and to them I speak." - 'Bunkers', Whidbey Island

The E.P ends with about a minute or so of recorded outdoor country noises, streams running over rocks and lapping at stones on the waters edge, bracken cracking underfoot and the drone of a plane overhead, a very calming and grounding outro, that reminds you of simpler times.

"and as we passed by a school bus I fell into dreams...and in dreams I saw a snake his head had been hacked off, come back together just like that and bite a dog" - 'Snake Lore', Whidbey Island.

Adam has just finished writing his next record 'Trailerparks', the follow up to his last full length 'Run Hide Retreat Surrender'. He will start recording within the next few weeks, in regards to the new album he said - "it sums up everything I've needed to say for a long time now. Some of it, happy/guilty admissions. Some of it, bad haunted shit I need to put behind me. Also: a lot of water (rivers, oceans, lakes, streams, lawn hoses, bays, bathtubs) and a lot of worry and fear--and a lot of getting over worry and fear. I wanted to make a "healing" record and I think I did that but it's come out kind of dark and deathly". 'Trailerparks' will be released later this year on 'Try Harder Records' to find out more about this brilliant artist hit the links above.