Anniversary

White Trash Revelry, the 2022 album that helped Adeem the Artist ascend the Americana ranks, benefited from its unadorned immediacy. Hardly a bare-bones work, it nevertheless played simply and directly, allowing Adeem to indulge in some straightforward Western swing alongside honky tonk and folk balladeering -- all sounds that code as authentic Americana. Anniversary, its 2024 sequel, doesnt quite play that way. Its a lush, glossy affair that belies the fact that it was recorded in a swift five-day session in Nashville with Butch Walker, a producer who can conjure almost any sound from pop musics past. Walker helps steer Adeem the Artist into the middle lane of mainstream country, relying equally on the neon-lit yacht country of the 80s and the oversized beats and hooks of the 90s. The combination feels fresh, not nostalgic, since the nods to the past underscore the complex emotions that flow through Adeem the Artists set of 12 original tunes. The slick production also serves one of Adeems larger goals: the soft, welcoming sound underscores that when they sing matter of factly about queerness, as they do on "One Night Stand," its not subversive -- its a simple fact of life. Apart from the closing "White Mule, Black Man" -- a folkie ballad delivered in a full-tilt Dylan mode -- Anniversarys sonics continually place Adeem the Artist in the middle of mainstream country, a place where theyre musically quite comfortable. Adeem certainly still has their eccentricities -- they still gravitate toward plainspoken storytelling thats equal parts Prine and Dylan, "Socialite Blues" is a swinging satire whose Dixieland feels learned through Randy Newman -- yet hearing them laying into the neo-rockabilly of "Plot of Land" with the same enthusiasm as they sing the ornate "Nancy," its clear that Adeem needed a producer like Butch Walker to bring out the full, complex dimensions of their musicality. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine