‘Midnight Pizza’, the debut album by ADE - is out today.
Celebrating the release in fine style, the genre-mashing New Yorker has released a surprise new video for one of its standout tracks: “Happy Birthday”.
Awash with hazy synthesisers, invigorating drum loops and beatific brass samples, “Happy Birthday” is the perfect alt-pop track to mark the occasion. Evocatively described by Ade as “nostalgia whiplash”, its a track that finds an artist coming to terms with his inner turmoils to emerge a better, stronger and happier person. The single also arrives with an incandescent DIY video starring Ade and remarkably all shot on an iPhone.
Speaking about its pride of place on ‘Midnight Pizza’ and how the new track came to be, Ade says:
“‘Happy Birthday’ always felt to me like a proper “track 1 introduction” to the world of ‘Midnight Pizza’, which is really just my kind of jittery, overstimulated brain and all the s**t that swims around in it, so I knew the lyric would have to be personal. I kept singing “happy birthday, darlin’” which I thought was very much not personal, but figured it was just a syllabic filler lyric that I would surely replace with something “better.” I couldn’t get it to go away, though, to the point of frustration and fatigue. Finally, on a walk around the East Village to cool off, still kind of at war with myself, I had this sudden moment of self acceptance - that I feel and am many contradictory emotional events at once, but that’s frickin life for ya. It felt more honest to embrace that and just try and maintain some (kind of guarded) optimism that those feelings are more universal than it sometimes seems.”
Ade is an innovative singer/songwriter and producer based in New York City. A child of the algorithmic listening generation, a potent mix of technological advancement and eclectic influence have nurtured an artist far from natural expectation. Extracting from the esoteric with a cut-and-paste like approach, Ade cites eclectic references from Beck to Bjork to Weezer, with his own creations straddling just about everything in-between.
This April he will release his confidently abstract debut album: ‘Midnight Pizza”. A record where fantasy and reality entwine often paradoxically, ‘Midnight Pizza’ is a coming of age record for the millennial generation. Written over the past 5 years, it finds Ade re-evaluating that familiar road that leads us all to so-called adulthood. At once intimidatingly complex and acutely referential, ‘Midnight Pizza’ also sports the kind of inviting danceability that places amongst peers like Caribou, Toro Y Moi or Gold Panda.
Composed, recorded, produced, and played/programmed in its entirety by Ade, additional orchestrations were contributed by CJ Camerieri (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens) and Rob Moose (Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers). Other instrumentalists to feature include Alex Sopp, Hideaki Aomori, Gabe Cabezas (yMusic) and Steve Marion (Delicate Steve). The album was co-mixed between Ade and Greg Tobler.
With Paste Magazine recently praising: “Ade harkens back to a tried-and-true trope of infectious grooves with nihilistic undertones”, plus Line Of Best Fit enthusing: “Combining a complementary collection of influences into his own undeniable style, the indications are clear that a bright and exciting debut LP is set to come”, ‘Midnight Pizza’ arrives today as one of the Spring’s most anticipated debut releases.
Cathartic exploration meets nocturnal hedonism, ‘Midnight Pizza’ serves up 35 minutes of experimental pop that defies expectation and categorisation.
Following the cinematic synth-pop of teaser track, “The City”, the technicolour experimentation of official lead single “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh”, plus the Friday-feeling vibes of “Another Weekend”; “Happy Birthday” only confirms Ade’s penchant for shapeshifting pop and will serve as the perfect introduction to mesmeric debut release: ‘Midnight Pizza’ - out today.’
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