New release – The Synesthete (album) by Joe Adhemar

Joe Adhemar is a studio-based multi-instrumentalist living west of London (UK). He previously released the albums ‘Existential Dreadlocks’ and ‘About the Soul’. On the 1st February Joe will release his sixth album ‘The Synesthete’.
The Synesthete
“This album is 12 tracks that continue on my journey as a DIY producer and songwriter. When I say DIY, every process of the album has been done by me including the mix and mastering. The previous album ‘About The Soul’ – which you kindly made one of your albums of the year in 2022, heavily featured synths. This album still has the 80’s vibe to it but quite a few of the songs have guitar front and centre. The album has been brilliantly augmented by my talented friend, Jim Sanger. Jim lists his guitar influences as Jonny Greenwood and Graham Coxon and you can hear the strong riffs throughout the album that arguably stand alongside these great guitarists.”
“There is also a collaboration with Skylu who sings backing vocals on ‘Hopper’ as well as a recording of my son Alfie, now 22 years old but he sings the chorus to ‘Revolution by Hashtag’ as a 6 year old in 2007.
“This album has a very strong theme about the unravelling in 2022 of the positives we got from lockdown. The fortuitous insights of the self. Of learning to comprehend our own fragility; that were slowly parked last year, as the stressful and time consuming old-ways of pre-Covid slowly seeped back into our lives.”
“Our frustrations started to reveal themselves in exchanges on social media. In our political discourse. In what was becoming a binary choice over whether to care for our collective welfare or to accelerate the blatant erosion of our societal cohesion.”
“The two strongest tracks on the album for me are ‘Found Out’ and ‘We Hear the Colours’.”
Found Out
“It’s the one song on the album where I have credited Jim as a co-writer. The song launches straight into his driving riff that is the main feature of the song. It was written on the day that Lizz Truss, the disastrous and short lived Prime Minister of the UK was given the job of running my country. With lyrics such as “Hello Mrs Gaslight. Time to promote your special friends” you can guess I wasn’t a fan.”
We Hear The Colours
“It is an alternative track name to ‘The Synesthete’. The lyric features a chance meeting with someone who suffers, or arguably is blessed with, synesthesia. A condition that muddles the senses for which the most interesting version is for some lucky individuals who can hear sounds as colours. It is my favourite lyric on the album and is the last of the 12 tracks. I always finish albums with my strongest songwriting. This one is just under 6 minutes long so would never see the time of day as a single but for those who appreciate my craft I believe they will always finish the album on a high.”
Which bands/artists have inspired you to make this album?
“If I was to suggest how high I aim as a songwriter and mention names like Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Public Service Broadcasting, Husker Du, The Blue Nile, Tears For Fears, Thomas Dolby, early Nine Inch Nails or The National, I’d probably scoff if I read someone else saying that but hey ho, aspiration doesn’t necessarily match achievement but I shall leave that to the listener to judge how close I have come.”
How do you hope your listeners feel when they listen to your new album?
“I want listeners to be infested with ear-worms with this album, without feeling alienated from the music – which could arguably be said of my previous works – which means that quite a few tracks have a certain commercial feel to them. When I say commercial, I mean that songwriters and musos will hear familiar chord structures in much of the album but what myself and Jim have done, is embellish the tracks with lots of cracking riffs.”
“There’s been a real desire to mix this to the best of my abilities too, with every track having gone through the laborious process of at least 20 versions, with a considerable amount of input from Jim who himself is soundtrack composer for film so has a great understanding of how to balance a mix. I also hope that it’s production quality is approaching the standard of signed acts who have access to people far more experienced than myself. I never stop learning, so I will no doubt claim the album after this one is another step up. But always upwards. I produce and remix a lot of other bands and this album will hopefully further prove that I can stand shoulder to shoulder with other remixers/producers working at my level.”
Where will the album be released?
“The album will appear on BandCamp on the 1st February at this link which will not work until that time. As for stream versions it will appear as 4 EP’s in March, May, July and September with either 4 or 3 tracks. There will be 3 tracks in these EP’s that did not make the final album on BandCamp. When hopefully everyone who purchases it on Bandcamp has worn it out, I will then release it as a whole album on the streams probably December 2023.”