Adam Holmes and the Embers – Midnight Milk
Gogar Records – 29 September 2017
Edinburgh’s Adam Holmes and the Embers are a band that are regularly featured on Folk Radio UK. In addition to video releases, album and gig reviews; we’ve also enjoyed the added bonus of exclusive sessions and interviews. Adam’s rich voice and adaptable song-writing style have earned him an ever-growing UK audience, and there’s every possibility that audience is about to increase even further, as Adam Holmes and the Embers release their third album Midnight Milk.
In 2014 the release of Adam’s roots-inspired and acoustically rich debut album, Heirs and Graces, led to comparisons with the likes of John Martyn and numerous award nominations. The album was listed as one of the Telegraph’s Best Folk Albums of 2014, nominated for Album of the Year at the 2014 Scot’s Trad Music Awards and long-listed for the 2014 Scottish Album of the Year Award. It also displayed the kind of instant appeal that quickly earned Adam an enthusiastic following. Then in 2016 Brighter Still saw Adam explore wider musical horizons, reflecting some of his work with Scottish folk band Rura, but tempering those traditional influences with more contemporary flavours in an album that demonstrated an increased confidence on his own ability to take his music forward.
As Midnight Milk opens there’s a clear indication that Adam’s determination continues to pay off. The mellow opening of bells, softly plucked strings and gentle chants that herald When Will I Be Free soon give way to electric guitar and a gentle build-up. Then Adam takes the bold step in an entirely different, but far from aimless direction, by referencing his exceptional work with hip-hop outfit Bang Dirty, in a rap that, while injecting an element of tension, still allows the track to breathe. With warm brass and a multitude of voices in the chorus When Will I Be Free never hurries; it flows along, it marches – not with speed, but with purpose.
There’s a definite sense of purpose behind the whole album. Adam has said that in Midnight Milk he wanted the music to reflect his own sense of satisfaction, contentment, in a way that allows the listener to experience the same. To that end, Adam decided to write and record the complete album at home, on his MacBook. With its soft electric piano, and even softer voices, the short but sublime modern day spiritual of Lay My Trouble Down might seem to represent the epitome of home recording, but this album has far more scope than you might initially expect.
Midnight Milk is no minimalist collection of gently acoustic singer-songwriter performances. It is a mighty undertaking, with big ideas and an even bigger sound, featuring guitars, strings, percussion, brass and even a couple of choirs. Adam reasoned that he has more complex tech available in his bedroom than Pink Floyd did when they recorded Dark Side of the Moon; so what better way to approach an album with the central themes of comfort and reassurance than to bring it to life in the most comforting of personal spaces.
Judging by the weight of numbers involved in recording the album, that needn’t be a lonely place either; and No Man Is An Island confirms the theory, as glockenspiel and handclaps tease out a Calypso beat for the album’s feel-good first single. That Afro-Caribbean influence makes several appearances on the album. Don’t Worry has a laid-back brightness among the choppy rhythm guitar and soft backing vocals for a warm, comforting song. The bass-led Caribbean beat is softer for the upbeat Strange Weather. Guitar, trumpet and keyboards provide the colour, but it’s the positive lyrical content that drives the song. The reggae influences and sing along chorus of Big Blue Sun, though, provide one of the album’s liveliest tracks; and one of its many unexpected surprises as the outro flows towards hot, hazy drama.
There’s a more contemplative air about the instrumental 5 Years. The sun slowly rises behind a bitter-sweet piano melody, to the distant sound of electric guitar. In truth, you don’t have to dig very deep to find the warm heart of this album, it beats throughout, but perhaps at its strongest in Safe In Her Love. Electric piano, vocals and the softest, briefest trumpet open this tribute to motherly love, that gently intensifies with strings and keyboards as the trumpet finds more to sing about. Whatever It Is You Do has shades of melancholy that hint at hard lessons, but it has a gently upbeat air, as its positive message builds towards something more devotional and life-affirming. The air of spirituality is strongest, though, in Can You Feel The Fire Inside? The harmonium opening seems to float from a kirk yard on Scotland’s Atlantic coast, before piano and Adam’s golden voice at its very best, begin to inject a welcoming homely warmth.
Adam enrolled the invaluable skills of guitarist Andy Paul to guide him through the finer points of home recording, and gifted producer Iain Hutchison mastered the album. But the warmth and positivity of Midnight Milk would probably never have been quite as pronounced without the impressively large cast that made their way to Adam’s flat. Alex Hunter‘s bass, John Lowrie‘s keys and Calum McIntyre‘s percussion provided the core sound; but there were honourary Embers aplenty. Toby Shippey‘s trumpet joined the Brass Gumbo quartet, with Mike Bennett‘s mandolin and Jack Smedley‘s fiddle providing some grass roots. Robyn Tustin, Alexi Sorokin, Chris Blair, Rachel Sermanni and Madeleine Dow joined in for the Midnight Choir and, as the Children’s Choir of the Portobello Quaker Meeting were simply too numerous to fit, they provided the album’s only external recording.
On the surface, it seems that with each successive release Adam Holmes and the Embers move further from the acoustic/folk beginnings that were a feature of Heirs and Graces, but those influences are still there. What has progressed is Adam’s approach to his music, his flexibility as a song writer, his willingness to mine the rich creativity behind his work and bring to the surface previously unimagined gems. With the warm serenity of Midnight Milk, Adam Holmes and the Embers have created an album that digs deep into the soul and finds it a place of calm comfort.
Midnight Milk Tour Dates (with Rachel Sermanni)
4th November – The Beacon Arts, Greenock
Buy Tickets
7th November – SEALL, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye
Buy Tickets
9th November – The Drouthy Cobbler, Elgin
Buy Tickets
10th November – The Drouthy Cobbler, Elgin
Buy Tickets
11th November – Tolbooth, Stirling
Buy Tickets
16th November – Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
Buy Tickets
17th November – Eden Court, Inverness
Buy Tickets
19th November – Carousel Sessions, Chorlton, Manchester
Buy Tickets
20th November – The Lantern, Halifax
Buy Tickets
21st November – Bush Hall, London
Buy Tickets
22nd November – The Stables, Milton Keynes
Buy Tickets
23rd November – Chapel Arts Centre, Bath
Buy Tickets
24th November – Municipal Hall, Biggar
Buy Tickets
25th November – Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh
Buy Tickets
Midnight Milk is out now on Gogar Records