By Deuce

“Screens”, the latest release from DG Adams, is one of those ballads you can easily zone out to without thinking about it. It’s so accomplished in this regard that it seems that must have been the artist’s intention, or at least something he gave due credence to during the writing, recording, and playing of this tune.

The song has all the classic components for doing just that—staring out the window, flashing back to the not-so distant past, or even pondering the brimming future. Early, early on in this affair he muses about the desire to “power off and go outside”. And, the way he lets that “siiiiiiide” linger on and on, one can tell he’s fairly serious about it.

But lyrics aside, this number is imbued with a stiff heaping of what sounds like tubed guitars, which languish somewhere between acoustics and the blazing rock and roll electronic guitars that are far too commonplace these days. Plus, he’s got the couth to endow them with a sumptuous melody, delicate phrasing, and a degree of poignancy that comes out readily.

There’s a deep, sonorous bass that keeps time with what is likely a pair of guitars producing this effect. Slow and ponderous, the tune effectively is able to move in place with little effort—which is primed for the sort of reflection, or simple revelry in the moment, for which it was seemingly designed.

Adams doesn’t hit the mic, however, until the warmest of strings touches down and stretches out, like the unfurling of shadows on a lazy afternoon. When he does, his vocals are able to maintain a strength and inflection that work well together, perhaps mitigating the effects of one another at the opportune times.

Plus, he’s got Anna Katarina hitting high notes atop his. The mix on the vocals is extremely credible in this respect as the chiming in of the former adds a chromatic effect to both the twirl of the guitars and the sentiment Adams conveys.

Best of all, perhaps, there’s just the right touch of drums. There’s a genuine pattern bereft of any snares, characterized with some sort of reverb effect that reverberates as well as the moments that this tune is sure to infuse with passion, or sentimentality, or perhaps fond desires.

Such a combination is worth returning to for many more listens.    

Share this post:

Related