"Unclever" Personal Songs Volumes 1 & 2

Info at http://www.keithjohnadams.com/personalsongs/ 43 Personal Songs by Keith John Adams - written and recorded between December 2007 and January 2008 Keith says: "At the 2007 CMJ festival in New York, Mike from HHBTM Records suggested I write personal songs for the first 25 people who pre-order the album, Unclever, which was due out at the end of the year. They'd each give me a story about themselves, and I'd compose and record a bespoke song just for them. I loved the idea and foolishly upped it to 40 songs, though in the end it was 43." The process: "I wrote and recorded the lot in about 6 weeks, usually doing 2 a day. I'd sit there with an e-mail of a story and a cup of coffee, and give myself an hour or so to come up with the concept and lyrics. Then I'd go into my little home studio and work feverishly to come up with the music. I had one SM57 microphone, my guitars, a cheap keyboard and a tiny drum-kit. After 3 hours or so I usually had something usable. All of them are, I suppose, sort of overworked demos. I thought it'd be a chance to recycle some old ideas but in the event it was easier to just let my mind flow and improvise completely new stuff. I'd given myself several days off, but by song 30 I was losing it. I sent Mike a message saying I couldn't finish the songs. He responded by telling me to just get on with it and stop moaning!" The result: "I really enjoyed targeting an audience of one, which seemed to give me an immediate emotional direction with each song. As they stacked up I felt I was working on a monster album, so it was natural I vary the nature and genres of the tracks. But for more than 40 songs! Could I do it? In the end, of course, some are more successful than others, some are lighter, some darker, but all of them feel integral to the project. I feel it proved something about the creative process too, that deadlines and restrictions can be the artist's greatest engine. Hope you enjoy 'em. KJA