Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2005 – present) Steve Adey (born, Birmingham, England) is a singer, songwriter, and former recording engineer. Steve Adey has released one album and various EP's & singles.
His 2006 debut album ''All Things Real'' was released through independent record label Grand Harmonium Records. Steve Adey's music is commonly described as "slowcore", a sub-genre characterised by slow tempos and minimalist arrangements.
His music covers many styles and genres from baroque pop through folk and most recently (on his These Resurrections EP) classical and avant-garde. Music journos often categorise his piano, vocal led songs as Americana, folk and singer songwriter, but also acknowledge a harder, less generic, left of mainstream approach; No Ripcord's Simon Briercliffe writes "His voice is rich and carries on long after it's comfortable, at times far louder and more in your ear than is comfortable, leaving you hanging on every word.
" 'All Things Real' was critically well received. Writers generally warmed to the album's introspective songs and well chosen covers. US journal for improvised and progressive music 'Signal to Noise' heralded the album as "haunting folk into straight-up epic territory.
" Many reviews picked up on the integration of hi-fidelity crossed with a lo fi, home made approach. Sunday Times critic Mark Edwards: 'The secret lies in the gap between Adey’s main influences: on the one hand, the mournful, home-made alt-country of Will Oldham and Smog; on the other, the pristine atmospheres of the Blue Nile and Talk Talk.
" Critic Leon McDdermott Glasgow Herald writes "Adey channels the spirit of Smog, minus Bill Callahan's caustic take on dysfunctional relationships; elsewhere, there are hints of the late Jeff Buckley's mournful tenderness.
" Steve Adey (with full band) played several festivals around Europe in 2007 and in August ’07 headlined his debut UK tour. A new album is set for release in early 2012, following on from the multi-genre 'Theses Resurrections' EP, released in May 2011.
It’s taken Steve Adey six years to follow up his brilliant debut album, All Things Real, and if you told me he’d spent three of those years working on the album’s title, I’d believe you: it’s just so perfectly apt as a description of this man’s music.
Back in 1952, John Cage pointed out that the composer’s or songwriter’s job is to come up with something that might be better than silence. Most, let’s be honest, fail miserably. Adey succeeds by — it would appear — running every note of every instrument on every track through the Is This Improving on Silence? test.
Every second of his music matters. Links: New Facebook pageNew Facebook group pageFollow on Twitter Watch on YouTube