Last spring, I went to Portland to visit a friend who lives there. After a few days exploring the city (and seeing George Clanton and TV Girl at The Doug Fir Lounge) I jetted back to Edmonton just in time to see Cold Cave play at The Starlite Room. It was a quick turnaround from getting home and heading to the show and although I missed the first opening act, I got there just in time to see ADULT.’s set.
I went into the set blind, having not listened to any of their music prior. I was not ready for the captivating show that they put on. Nicola Kruperus stalked around the stage, snarling into two microphones. Adam Lee Miller was stationed around synthesizers, creating an electronic body music concoction of cold keys and tight drum machine beats. It was the perfect live synthesis of techno dancability and the raw energy of punk.
On the newly released Perception is/as/of Deception, the formula of sound hasn’t changed much. They stick to their strengths, creating mechanical and movement-inducing rhythm that are cut up by razor sharp synthesizers. The album was described, months ago, by the band as “dance songs for a cultural breakdown”, which now takes on a larger relevancy for the world it was released into. Things don’t get much more broken down than a global pandemic that has killed thousands, dismantled the economy, physically alienated people from each other and brought further into the spotlight the mismanagement and inhumane prioritization of wealth-seeking greed over human good by the leaders of some countries.
To record this album, ADULT set up in a windowless basement they painted completely black to “deprive their senses, question their perceptions, and witness the resulting ramifications”. From this environment lacking in sensory input, the duo constructed an album focused around the act of seeing and being/not being seen.
The message of things not being as they seem is something that has been etched into the collective conscience for a long time. Transformers are “more than meets the eye”. Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. In this accelerated age of information, we are presented with way more than we can retain from so many sources of varying trust-worthiness. But even still, personal biases, of the media consumer and presenter, play a big part in what is communicated and taken in. ADULT comment on this in “Have I Started At The End”, with the repetition of “we only see what we know”. This line holds true with the tendency for many to seek out sources of information that align with their perspectives, experiences, and political leanings and the role of media coverage in highlighting and downplaying/ignoring different events or people.
On “Controlled By” ADULT urge the listeners to take a closer look before they lose perspective and are deceived by their perceptions. The agency of the viewer to think critically about what is presented to them is crucial to avoid the trappings of ignorant consumption, which is critiqued in “Why Always Why”. In a press release, the band explains
"Why Always Why is a brief phrase taken from a line in Jean Cocteau's film, 'Testament of Orpheus'. From Cocteau's view, the phrase may have represented a moment of self-analysis, but in our view it represented a moment of analysis of society and culture. The repeating theme of herd mentality. Dullness in consuming. A perception of how consuming may make everything alright. The sentiment here is a sentiment of the forever outsider. Of the person who feels as if they were dumped into some strange landscape, with no escape."
There are a large set of ideals that are reinforced by many of the structures that influence the world we live in. Capitalism and technological acceleration, and consumerism within these frameworks are constantly pushed as necessities for forward progress, mainly by those that benefit most from being at the top of these structures. An implied necessity for supporting these structures positions them as the backbone for the livelihood of our world and downplays many other things needing attention. As an example, it’s evident in the push by some conservatives to bail out corporations and hasten the return to a fully operational pre-pandemic economy that openly disregards wide scale health and wellbeing of the people who work within it to support themselves. For these ideas to be affirmed by the people, it’s required that “they looked as they should look” in the eyes of these powers. This only contributes to the “repetition of social blah blah blah” that is referenced in “Why Always Why”.
In relation to the corporate and political powers that push these agenda and the people who perpetuate by buying in fully or take a more moderate stance of indifference, ADULT. position themselves as a voice of a third category: the outsider frustrated by this framework that they cannot seem to escape from. The individual who takes all this in with disgust and recognizes that the status quo has to be shooken up with progressive action. It is a call to other like-minded people and those marginalized in theses times to “reconstruct the construct for yourself” and undo the wrongs and misguided endeavours of conservative and moderate agendas.
There is a lot to unpack with Perception is/as/af Deception. Nicola Kruperus says a lot without necessarily saying many things in an overly explicit fashion. Lyrical repetition occurs again and again, really driving the point the home as it is delivered with tones of frustration and alienation. This is an album that is powerful on multiple levels, inspiring both dancing and a deeper look at the world one functions within and their relationship to the dull consumerism and indifference that has fed into a fractured society
Listen to Perception is/as/of Deception below and purchase the record here.