IS THIS MUSIC?

ALBUM REVIEW - 'ALL THINGS REAL' BY BERNHARD BESSING
FROM IS THE MUSIC? ISSUE 22 SUMMER '06

Opening your debut album - well, after a minute of solo piano - with a version of Will Oldham’s ‘I See A Darkness’, might be seen as brave... or foolish. Well, despite Johnny Cash already covering the tune, its painful fragility is well-conveyed and retained by Adey. But what of his own work? ‘The Lost Boat Song’ answers this immediately - in the same vein as the preceding cover, this is possibly on a par with Oldham’s songwriting, and as a duet with Helena MacGilp (formerly of Desc). In fact the album is based around four ‘main’ tracks - despite there being 10 songs on this release there are many short pieces which act as dividers - ‘Find The Way’ is a late night Blue Nile-style croon, and is musically preferable to another cover, of Dylan’s ‘Shelter From The Storm’. Whether this is a tribute to one of his heroes or a lack of confidence in his own songwriting, isn’t clear, but ‘The Last Remrark‘ - still dark but more uptempo - shows that Adey should have no fears on that score. 3/5

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