Kids of Adelaide release their brand new conceptional album 'The Cabin Tapes', out now.
The two friends that make up Kids of Adelaide are Severin Specht and Benjamin Nolle, both with some very individual aspects that they bring together to encapsulate the sound of Kids of Adelaide.
Their latest album is a clever collection of songs, each with their own soundscapes to ensure it really is the two friends authentic work. The 11 tracks wind around some hostile and touching subjects all whilst being recorded within a cabin in the woods - hopefully you've worked out why it is called 'The Cabin Tapes' from this.
Kids of Adelaide talk to us on their album and dig deeper into the stories behind each track.
TRACKLIST
1. Atmosphere
2. Wasting Time
3. The Five Minute Drive
4. Chimney Sweeper
5. Walking Together
6. Until We Fade
7. Complicated Things But A Simple Life
8. The Beauty & The Pain
9. I Still Wonder
10. Carry Me On
11. Standing In The Blue Hour
Atmosphere
Severin & Benni:
"Atmposhere is the song on the album that was written first and due to its topic it became the opener of the album. After almost 10 years as a band
we noticed that we had somehow disconnected from each other,
feeling in the wrong place and lacking a common vision of our future.
The song describes this feeling and the process of getting back
together, leaving worries and struggles behind. It’s vital for
us to create an atmosphere in which everyone can be
oneself, get inspired, inspire each other and love what
we’re doing. After this song was written and we talked to each other
very honestly, sharing our troubles, wishes and ideas we were really
ready to work on the new album. Therefore we went to a secluded cabin in
the forests to create the “Atmosphere“ we needed."
Wasting Time
Benni:
"I actually started writing this song when I was 32 about two and a half years ago but
did never finish it somehow. After vacation in Greece where I met a guy who kinda opened
my eyes in a five hour discussion I stumbled upon this song again and could finally finish it.
It‘s about the actual state of my life. Seeing my old
friends from school taking a different direction, choosing another
lifestyle with deviant goals and opinions left me
wondering about if there is a “right“ way of wasting one’s
time. And along came the self-doubt. The awareness of
every moment being unique sometimes seems to make it even harder
to decide which way to go for me. How do I wanna “waste my time“? How do I wanna live
and what do I wanna live for?"
The Five Minute Drive
Severin:
"I wrote this song for my brother Sebastian who is also our tour manager and sound engineer.
He’s only two years older than me so we already spent most of our time together when we were kids.
As we work together now nothing has really changed, we're still spending a lot of our time together and especially for siblings that cannot be taken for granted. Until last year we even lived together in a house with Benni where we also produce our music and rehearse.
Realising that all these moments we shared will never come back again made these memories of all the moments I shared with my brother even more precious and meaningful to me.
So I wanted to appreciate these memories and thank my brother for everything we’ve been
through together so far, for his support and belief, passion and patience.
The eponymous memory is about the drive from the old to the new house when we moved for the first time. It took about five minutes and we always hoped for a good song playing on the radio."
Chimney Sweeper
Severin:
"This song is one of those which weren’t written at the cabin.
I was watching the happenings in the street from my window and our neighbours
doing whatever they did it this moment and I somehow empathized with them
and their very different situations. There was an instrumental that Benni had recorded
some time ago that I was listening to at the time that I used as a musical fundament.
So this song is an ode to empathy. Everyone is an individual
universe of emotions, experiences, fears and dreams. Understanding
and accepting this brings us closer together as human beings and
as a whole society. In times when we don’t even know our neighbours
anymore it’s more important than ever to sometimes take a close look
why people are who they are and how they became the person they are
even if our opinions and beliefs may differ."
Walking Together
Severin:
"Benni came up with the guitar riff that really got me (Severin) hooked right away.
After recording guitar, bass and drums he went out for a smoke and I wrote the
lyrics.
It is a retrospective of my childhood. Remembering the old days I recognized
how deep the connections between then and today really are. Its like
a rope from now into the 90s. I remember being in the workshop of my
father and how fascinating it was to work with a hatchet
for the first time and how I still love woodworking today. It’s interesting to
see how much of what defines us as individuals can be related to more or less
specific experiences or moments in our childhood.
I remember how excited we were after finishing the first demo at the cabin.
The warmth and positive vibe of the song made us listen to it for at least ten times
in a row, jumping around and cheering like little kids. "
Until We Fade
Severin & Benni:
"This song is about the feeling of isolation, being thrown
into the world alone. We believe, love is the only thing that
can release us from this deep frightening feeling. It allows
us to take ourselves less important. It creates a feeling of
being accepted and resonating with the world, being part
of something bigger. Among “Standing In The Blue Hour“ it’s the
only song without drums on the album. Almost all of the tracks were
taken from the demo we recorded in the cabin because we loved the
imperfection so much."
Complicated Things But A Simple Life
Severin:
"This song starts with a rhythmic, driving sound consisting of hi-hat and a very noisy
arpeggiator. It‘s a reference to The War on Drug’s “Under The Pressure“ which
features a similar sound that we always liked very much. In general they are one of the
most important influences for “The Cabin Tapes“.
The lyrics are kinda divided in three layers, one of them is a look back on what we did so
far with the band, but also about our youth and what has changed. We had a tough time
as a band and a lot of things went wrong so we finally somehow lost our passion. I think this song is something like my conclusion with this time. So the other two layers are
rather looking at what lies ahead, how I would like to live my life with my girlfriend but also as
a professional musician with all these new experiences we made in the past.
It’s okay for me if things sometimes get a bit complicated but overall I would like to
have a simple life, appreciating the things I have and the people around me, being able to
focus on our music and what else is important to me."
The Beauty & The Pain
Benni:
"Memories are like pictures that we paint during our lives.
They reach from overwhelming beauty to the deepest pain
and everything in between. While both sides couldn’t exist
without each other it is challenging everyone’s acceptance
of life in all its contradictions.
It was pretty late and we stood outside at the cabin when
this metaphor appeared in my head: The beauty and the pain like
a picture and the frame. I think if everything is always comfortable and
you never have to experience pain in any way it’s also really hard to
see and feel the beauty and the significance of moments and all the
things we take for granted today. At the cabin we had to cut wood and
make a fire in the oven and especially during the winter it really took a while
until the temperature was okay inside. But the work we had to do and the time
we had to wait for the warmth made us appreciate it even more in the end."
I Still Wonder
Benni:
"This song was very much inspired by the thoughts of Hartmut Rosa,
a german sociologist and political scientist. Thanks to my friend Jonathan
I got in touch with Rosa’s books and theories and it really influenced
my thinking about our world and how we are put in it.
The song questions the inherent human search for
knowledge and availability in general. It is blessing and
curse, boon and bane, at the same time. On one side it’s
determinant for our understanding of the world and the
creation of wealth, while on the other, it is also one of the
major reasons for the exploitation of the planet, ecological
and social dislocations. It’s also about the personal
perspective: Do I have to know everything? Do I have to
see everything to have a fulfilled life? Or does the
everlasting striving for more and deeper experiences lead
to the feeling of never getting enough, a hunger that never
can be satisfied in a world, thats creating new possibilities
too fast to follow?"
Carry Me On
Benni:
"We come from Stuttgart in southern Germany and had the luck of
having an easy childhood without any troubles and we know that this
is a great privilege. I’m really thankful for all I was given by my parents
who always supported me in every way they could.
This is a song for my parents and about the fear of losing
them. The certainty to exist without their guidance, advice
and unquestioning love is something that really concerns
me and challenges me. The memories of being a child,
being carried by my father, being loved by my mother, set
the scene for the song. It was written at the cabin too and I remember starting
with the driving drum rhythm only and somehow it became one
of these moments when the words just start flowing and so the lyrics
almost wrote themselves."
Standing In The Blue Hour
Severin:
"This song actually was created out of a moment of doubt. When we recorded the
demo of "Walking Together“ we tried out many different things. We ended up with
numerous versions of the track and I remember that I started doubting the song somehow,
wondering if it was cool at all. Sometimes that happens when you think too much about songs.
So I went outside for a walk, sat by the fireplace, called my girlfriend and told her about my doubts.
She kinda got me back on track with her encouraging words and so I went on and realised the beauty of this very moment, being able to be at this wonderful place to write music. Watching the silhouettes of the trees contrasting the sky I realised that it was already starting to get dark. I was literally standing in the blue hour.
The lyrics are a description of this special moment."
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September 2022