Adam Hardcastle’s latest release, Stille, is a minimalist’s holiday in desolation row. The music is lugubrious; sometimes it’s like notes are being felt out as he goes, impromptu, as though wielding large ambient weapons, honing industrial percussion with an abyss of slow bass. The feeling is of strange introspective to the point of isolation.
On “Dazed” Hardcastle manages to muster up the emotional range to give us a few tender moments of vulnerability, like Thom York of Radiohead, but it is evident he is struggling with the tone and pitch on occasion. The countertenor is mostly consistent, giving us a sort of eerie divination of the apocalypse sort of feel. Ghostly falsetto feels haunting, but the trembling voice borders more on weakness then those transcendent moments. The whistling is cool, if a bit X-files-ish. The ominous tone is there but it’s dated and been done before. Adam is very talented, but this album often sounds like raw live cuts instead of a studio production. More consistent note resolution, less sliding and tightly focused breath support over time could make Hardcastle quite incredible, but this is more college act quality then stadium tour style. That can be a very good thing for a growing artist, and it is entirely possible that we may one day look back on these quirks and find them to be simply smaller evolutionary articulations of a greater career.
The low creeping manner of Adam’s music is reminiscent of Nick Cave, but not as well developed. “The Stoning” reminds one most of Cave’s dark removed perspective, but the lyrics just don’t deliver the same depth for all their attempts. The song comes off as contrived, even though the gradual pathological lie the character tells is an intriguing example of eroding perspective. Despite this, the transitions from “I think I may have killed a man” to “I think I almost stoned a man” to “I may well be a witness” and finally “I hear a man was stoned to death” are well written, if labored over, and indeed quite clever insights. As if he desires the cool aesthetic of Tom Waits and simultaneously the edginess of Trent Reznor, it sounds as though he is on the way to finding his voice but it is not quite there yet.
Most of the percussion is good. One loop in particular in “The Sky’s the Same” sounds like a paper jam in a dot-matrix printer. However, the bass lines are uninspired with less energy then Portishead and no progressive interesting changes. Hardcastle’s limited range means that each song pretty much sounds the same. The drum and bass loops deserve more variation. A little dynamic adjustment here, a bit of glitching the beats, some key changes, and perhaps a few more drums fills and dynamic riffs would really help the songs have a more full sound. From a minimalist mindset, though, the album is very well crafted, without much flash or bang.
Perhaps the shouting of outside forces has cornered the artist. In his favor, Hardcastle is trying to do something nearly impossible: communicate solitude to an audience in a public setting, and one has to admire that sort of tenacity. Most crowds don‘t have the patience for this sort of music, but it appeals greatly to the minds of producers and remix artists a like for layers of pastiche in electronica. This makes Adam more of an artist’s artist then a musician for just any old venue. In the right niche, he has lots of potential, especially with brilliant back-up musicians and touring alongside other charismatic inspirations.
Stille is a wonderful artistic endeavor as an indie experiment, attempting to salvage truth and honor of some sort from desolation. However, how much treasure can be found in these cynical musings on humanity will vary by each listener. Adam Hardcastle is a good poet to watch, but still requires vocal refinement to be a true great. Stille is worth a listen, but quality issues make it tough to recommend to anything but niche audiences.
Review by Julian Gorman
