New Yorker ADE released “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh”, the first official single to be taken from his upcoming debut album: ‘Midnight Pizza’ which is due to land on 23rd April
The single follows the enigmatic teaser track, “The City” released last month, but unlike its shadowy counterpart, opens-up a world quite the opposite...
Painted with a palette of technicolor sounds; from the jetstream sonics that usher the track into earshot, to the breezy calypso piano loop and acid-trippin’ guitar breaks that inflate its uncontainable sense of optimism, “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh” drops like a pure holiday for the head.
While searching for lyrics to pair with an early instrumental of the track, Ade unearthed a series of old voice memos. Like a time capsule, the recordings unlocked memories of a life-affirming chapter in his life. Esoteric lines like “s**t - totally forgot what we had in the fridge and it was hilarious” to “like a dream of the first time hearing music” capture the ridiculousness and profoundness of time well-spent with friends in vivid, intimate detail; and illuminated by a psychedelic patchwork of drum breaks, synths, reversed guitar, and pedal steel. A dedication to an unforgettable era and the people who made it, “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh” also offers wistful reflection on impermanence of youth and the inevitability of change as the real world beckons.
Opening up about the making of “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh”, Ade says:
“Havin’ Fun with Pharaoh was an instrumental track that had been kicking around for a while. When it finally came time to figure out what I might want to say over it, I was going through my voice notes in search of some inspo (as one does) and ended up all the way back at the original recording of myself sitting at the piano and playing the main riff for the first time some years ago, featuring some of my friends’ voices in the background. One thing led to another and I found myself listening to a year of my and my friends’ voices, wrapped in this iQuilt patched with vibrant, goofy voice note memories. I found it only fitting to make the song a tribute to the time that that piano part was conceived, the voices in those little recordings, and the friends they belong to.”
Hopping through genres and ideas with a Beck-like boldness, “Havin’ Fun With Pharaoh” sets the scene for a debut album that dares to dream big and determined to shatter the mould: ‘Midnight Pizza’ (released 23 April, via Trickwork).
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 Bjork to Weezer, with his own innovative 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.
Cathartic exploration meets nocturnal hedonism, ‘Midnight Pizza’ serves up 35 minutes of experimental pop that defies expectation and categorisation. This really is shapeshifting pop that will surprise and stimulate at every turn.
