Ages draws influences from an eclectic group of artists including Pinback, Nick Cave, Neko Case, Shellac, Jesus Lizard and Peter Gabriel. Adrienne Shurte is well known in the Richmond, Virginia music scene. Over the past decade she has played in Magnus Lush, Fire Bison, and Hail Hydra. Each band informs the next and has evolved into a vibrant and eclectic sound that we now hear in Ages. Adrienne has honed in on uncomfortable aspects of life while juxtaposing her lyrics with sparkling and sometimes even soothing compositions. Weaving empathy and weariness is a common theme explored in the new album.
“Must Be Nice” was released digitally as well as via cassette on February 11th and can be ordered, here.
Shurte spoke with Adobe & Teardrops about her influences and the themes behind Must Be Nice. The band’s song “Alliteration in Names” is a hypnotic, slightly menacing, hook-laden exploration with direct inspiration from one of Shurte’s influences, Pati Smith.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
Patti Smith’s “Horses/Land of a Thousand Dances/ La Mer.” The connotation, the way the song climaxes, the content of her lyrics, the guitar playing – everything in that song builds up into this explosion and it doesn’t stop for almost 10 glorious minutes.
Explain the title of your album.
Must Be Nice – a passive aggressive title for a passive aggressive album. An emphasis on how looking at the other sides of the tracks can bring on feelings of longing.
How are you using your platform to support marginalized people?
Must Be Nice is a conceptual album that solely focuses on mental illness and people that live in destitute due to the constructs of society around us. Every song written is intended to bring perspective to the audience about persons in our communities that are the lesser understood due to instability, whether it be financial, physical, or mental. There are so many people that are overlooked and misunderstood with stories unheard. It is important to remember that we are all creatures of earth and our worth should not be judged based on capitalistic achievements.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
The primary focus on this album was to tell the stories of people with mental illness or people that live in destitute. As a whole, our society marginalizes individuals who make us feel uncomfortable, or those that we don’t understand. The songs express the stories of people that have dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc.
Do you start off with the music or lyrics first? Why?
Usually I start with a riff I enjoy, one that challenges me and makes me work in a way that I have to memorize so it becomes muscle memory. After fitting the riffs together like a jigsaw puzzle, I hone in on the vibe of the song and visualize what it reminds me of, and I start creating lyrics from there. Usually I have a list of topics that I want to discuss at some point stacked up in my brain — so I’ll go through that list and try to make the lyrics cohesive with the tone of music. I have trigger words that I use to form the lyrics around and just wait to see what works.